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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29945445">Newcomers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redpipcleaners/pseuds/Redpipcleaners'>Redpipcleaners</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Transformers: Rescue Bots</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:07:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>53,162</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29945445</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redpipcleaners/pseuds/Redpipcleaners</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Without any thought, Mayor Luskey let a new family into Griffen Rock. Though they seem relatively normal, there's definitely more to them than meets the eye. As Cody makes a new friend he finds there's more to himself as well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cody Burns &amp; Original Male Character(s), Francine Greene/Priscilla Pynch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Worries</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a story from my old account, I wanted to plan this one out better.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Charlie Burns slammed his hands down on Mayor Luskey's desk in frustration.<br/>
"You did what?" He nearly shouted.<br/>
Mayor Luskey was now sweating nervously with an awkward smile on his face, compared to his prideful one from earlier.<br/>
"I let a new family move in on the island. More people would be good for our economy!" He explained.<br/>
"And you didn't think to ask us first? This could be dangerous, if they found out about the bots who knows how they'll react!" Charlie exclaimed.<br/>
"They seemed like quiet people. It'll be fine." Mayor Luskey brushed him off.<br/>
"Just because they seem like quiet people doesn't mean they are." Charlie turned on his heels and left Mayor Luskey's office, he couldn't take this anymore. That fool was always doing something to put his family at risk!</p><p>According to Luskey, the new family had the surname "Min" and had been here for a week already and lived deep in the woods away from town. The only reason Charlie found out is because he saw some unfamiliar kids in the park, and when he asked a young girl where their parents were she told him that they were at home and that they had just moved there.</p><p>"Chief Burns! What will our next course of action be?" Chase asked as they drove home.<br/>
"I'm not sure, we'll talk about it with everyone else when we get home." He said.</p><p>Charlie called the rest of the Burns family down to the basement to discuss this new development.</p><p>"Eh, it's not really a big shock that Luskey would do something like this." Kade said nonchalantly.<br/>
"But still, this could turn out pretty badly." Graham added.<br/>
"He could've tried to ask instead of going behind our backs." Boulder said sadly.<br/>
"It's absolutely absurd!" Chase exclaimed.<br/>
"Yeah, they could be exposed to the world as aliens!" Dani said.<br/>
"What are we going to do? I can't go to jail!" Blades panicked, already making up worst case scenarios in his head.</p><p>"Woah slow down, nobody's going to jail, we'll figure this out." Heatwave assured him.<br/>
"I don't know." Blades doubted.<br/>
"What are we going to do dad? Do we have to tell them or get them to leave the island somehow?" Dani asked.<br/>
"Tch! If I didn't have a job to do, I would've left ages ago! This island has a new disaster every week!" Heatwave complained.<br/>
Charlie's eyes seemed to light up a bit, he was starting to get ideas, but he'd have to plan things out first.</p><p>"Heatwave, try to get in touch with Optimus. Until he tells us what to do we shouldn't start anything with them." He said.<br/>
"Alright, got it." Heatwave said.<br/>
Kade sighed, "Great, does that mean I can go now? I'm starving." He said.<br/>
Charlie rolled his eyes, "Yeah sure go ahead, meeting's over." He said.<br/>
Kade immediately ran for the kitchen and Graham and Dani went off to do other things, Cody stayed behind though.</p><p>"Even if they could be dangerous, it couldn't hurt to get to know them. People do tend to be more lenient with people they trust." He spoke up, scratching at his right temple.<br/>
"I'll keep that in mind Cody, don't worry too much about it." Charlie said.<br/>
Cody nodded. "Okay dad."</p><p>Cody jogged up the stairs back to his room and as soon as he hit the bed he started texting Frankie to tell her about what was going on.</p><p>When he was done, he flopped onto his back and turned his head to the side to look out of the window, letting his blonde hair fall onto his face over his eyes.</p><p>"This is gonna be a rough start." He thought. Hopefully, nothing too crazy would happen.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. First day back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Summer break ended on Monday the next week much to Cody's dismay. He was also excited too, he was starting his freshman year of highschool.</p><p>He walked out of his bed, his hair was a mess and he was still yawning, but obviously he wasn't leaving the firehouse like that.<br/>
He brushed his teeth and moved his hair out of his face (he'd actually style it once he put his clothes on).</p><p>"Should I wear something different today? I mean I'm starting highschool, that's pretty significant right?" He wondered, standing in front of his closet.</p><p>He ended up going with his usual outfit anyway.</p><p>He jogged downstairs to get breakfast and saw his family in the kitchen doing their usual things.<br/>
Charlie was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, Kade was helping himself to some burnt toast, Dani was very zombie-like and had her cup upside down while she poured her coffee, causing it to spill all over the table and the floor, and Graham wasn't there, he was probably still asleep or studying.</p><p>"Good morning dad." Cody said.<br/>
Charlie looked up from his newspaper. "Morning son. You slept well?" He asked.<br/>
Cody grabbed the milk jug and shut the fridge door. "Yeah." He sat down at his spot at the table and poured himself a bowl of cereal. "Has Optimus called back?" He asked.<br/>
Charlie shook his head. "Nope, haven't heard a thing from him yet." He said.<br/>
Cody frowned. "Yeah I'm not surprised. He's probably just busy like usual." He said.<br/>
"Well he'd better get unbusy soon, we have an emergency here!" Kade said.<br/>
"Don't worry Kade, I'm sure he'll call back soon enough. We just have to be patient and not cause any suspicion among the new family." Charlie said.<br/>
"That could be hard since everybody knows but them." Graham added, finally appearing from the basement.<br/>
Dani yawned. "Whatever, I just wanna get through the day." She said tiredly.</p><p>Cody didn't want his mood dampened by talk of possible danger to their family so he decided to head out to Frankie's house early.<br/>
"Bye guys, see you after school." He said, pulling on his shoes.<br/>
"Bye Cody." Dani said.<br/>
"Have good day son." Charlie replied.<br/>
"Good riddance." Kade joked.<br/>
"See ya Cody." Graham said.</p><p>Cody shut the door and switched to hoverboard mode on his ComTab. He climbed on and quickly left. On the way he passed by Mr. Harrison, why does anyone still let him use that Heli-pack?</p><p>"Hey Mr. Harrison!" He said as he passed by.<br/>
"Hi Cody!" He said back.</p><p>After a few minutes, Cody reached Frankie's house. He dismounted his ComTab and walked into the garage. "Hey Doc!" He said.<br/>
Doc Greene was working, so it took him a moment to respond.<br/>
"Oh-oh! Hello Cody! Good to see you up and at 'em!" He said, looking up from his tools.<br/>
"Yep, is Frankie almost ready?" Cody asked.<br/>
"She's in the house somewhere, go and head upstairs." He said.<br/>
Cody nodded. "Okay." He walked upstairs with his ComTab under his arm and hoped that Frankie was nearby so they could go.</p><p>To his relief, she was coming down from her room upstairs.<br/>
She gave him a quick hug. "Hey Cody!" She said cheerfully.<br/>
She had gotten dolled up for her first day. Her hair was in a slick low ponytail with silver clips on the right side of her head and her edges were smoothed down neatly. She wore clear lip gloss, clear jewel studs in her ears, a purple jacket, a pink crop top, a fitted blue skirt, and white tennis shoes, with her nails painted purple.</p><p>"You look cool Frankie." He said.<br/>
"Thanks, you do too." She replied.<br/>
"Liar." Cody said.<br/>
Frankie giggled. "If that's what you think." She said. "Anyway, have you heard back from Optimus?" She asked.<br/>
"Nah, he's busy." He said, starting to walk off.<br/>
"Damn, that sucks." She said.<br/>
"Francine!" Anna warned her from the staircase.<br/>
"Sorry mom." Frankie called back. She turned back to Cody and rolled her eyes.<br/>
"Come on let's get outta here." She said.</p><p>The duo walked slowly alongside each other on the way to school."Do you think any of the new kids could be in our class?" Frankie wondered.<br/>
Cody shrugged with his hands behind his head. "I don't know, maybe. I haven't met any of them yet, so I wouldn't know." He said.<br/>
"You're no fun, have some imagination. We'd finally have someone new to talk to on the island after forever!" She said.<br/>
"We talked to plenty of new people." Cody reminded her.<br/>
"Yeah, but none of them were our age." Frankie said.<br/>
"That's true I guess." Cody said.</p><p>They walked into the building and read their schedules, Cody was going to math class and Frankie was going to french, so they had to separate. On the bright side, they did have lunch, P.E. first period on b-days, and Social studies on a-days and Biology together everyday.</p><p>"See ya later Cody." Frankie said.<br/>
"Bye Frankie." Cody replied.</p><p>Cody had said hi and bye to so many people today that it was starting to tire him out. He zoned out a bit and continued down the hallway, not really looking where he was going even though he was facing forwards.</p><p>Suddenly, out of nowhere he collided with someone who was so rigid that he was knocked right off of his feet. He immediately tuned back into his surroundings and realized he was about to smack his head on the floor. Before he could though, someone grabbed him tightly by the shirt collar and kept him from falling any further.</p><p>Stunned, he looked down at his collar and then up at the person who was holding it. The boy who had caught him carefully propped him up on his feet and let go of him. Whoever this guy was, he was definitely over six feet. He had shiny brown skin and big bright green eyes that lacked double eyelids. His hair was light brown, curly, and shaved at the sides, he wore green jewel studs in his ears, and a grey hoodie with loose ripped blue jeans, and heavy black boots.</p><p>Cody hadn't even realized how long they had been standing there until he spoke.<br/>
"Um, are you okay? You're staring" He said. His accent was forgein, Cody wasn't sure how to place it. Like an odd mix between a multicultural english accent, korean, and something else. His a's were pronounced in a tall way and his r's were pronounced closer to L's and his voice was really deep, which surprised Cody a little. He also looked very confused, and possibly worried. Cody snapped out of his trance and spoke up.</p><p>"Yeah I'm good. Sorry I bumped into you, I was just really distracted." He apologized.<br/>
The guy blinked slowly. "Okay." And nonchalantly walked around him. Cody turned around and he was already walking around the corner.</p><p>Cody scratched at his right temple in confusion and fixed his shirt collar. "That was weird." He muttered to himself. Despite the hold up, he managed to get to math class before the bell rang.</p><p>The good thing about living in a small town is that ice breakers were never awkward since you already knew everybody. Must suck for that new kid though. Hopefully he wouldn't see him again today because that was embarrassing.</p><p>
  <em>Wait, new kid?</em>
</p><p>Cody frowned over his syllabus that he was marking up when he thought about that?<br/>
Was that huge dude one of the new kids?<br/>
Probably, he had never seen him before today, even though his family had been around for two weeks now, and judging from his accent he definitely wasn't from around here.</p><p>"Cody?"<br/>
Cody looked up at Ms. Lee who was calling on him.<br/>
"Can you read section three please?" She asked.<br/>
Cody shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to section three. "Yeah sure."</p><p>The day went by surprisingly slowly and Cody was ready to go home by the time he walked from social studies to Biology with Frankie.<br/>
"Really, he just walked around you?" She asked.<br/>
"Yeah, it was kind of weird. He didn't really seem like he was in a hurry or something. It was more like he was kind of out of it." Cody explained.<br/>
"He was probably just trying to get to class. I'd probably feel a little off too if some random kid smacked into me like you did." Frankie inquired.<br/>
Cody cringed. "Well you don't have to say it like that, I really didn't see him."<br/>
Frankie made a face that told him she wasn't believing that.<br/>
Cody scoffed at her and they walked into the classroom.</p><p>Ms. Gale stood at the white board waiting as students walked in and took their seats. Cody and Frankie sat next to each other close to the middle of the classroom. Cody started getting the notebook he picked from that class when Frankie tapped him.</p><p>"Huh?" He said.<br/>
"Look who's here." Frankie said.<br/>
Cody looked to the front of the classroom and saw the guy from earlier talking to Ms. Gale. Her being short made him look even taller.<br/>
"How do you just not see someone that huge? Frankie whispered.<br/>
"Shut up." Cody whispered back.</p><p>"-just sit next to Cody over there." He heard her say.<br/>
That got his attention, he almost hoped that he'd say he wanted to sit somewhere else. He didn't though.<br/>
He squinted and asked, "Um which one is-"<br/>
"The blonde kid over there." Ms. Gale pointed to Cody who shrunk in his seat a little.<br/>
He looked over at the seat next to him and nodded. His boots thudded loudly when he walked over. Frankie was trying not to laugh at Cody's embarrassment next to him.</p><p>He slid into the desk next to Cody's and put down his backpack.<br/>
Cody sat straight up in his chair, feeling pretty awkward now. Then Cody noticed that he was looking directly at him, and he had noticed from the corner of his eye. He'd been staring again.</p><p>"That's a habit of yours?" He asked casually.<br/>
Cody was surprised and turned towards him too fast and hit his knee on the bottom of his desk. "Ouch." He hissed, hugging his knee. He heard Frankie trying to stifle laughter and the other kid was cringing.<br/>
"Sorry, not really. I just got distracted." He said.<br/>
He nodded, "Like earlier." He said.<br/>
Cody shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." He said.<br/>
"Mm-hm." He was about to turn away but Cody decided to introduce himself so that hopefully he'd tell his name too so that he could stop calling him "that guy."</p><p>He held out his hand for a handshake, "I'm Cody Burns by the way." He said.<br/>
He looked down at Cody's hand in confusion and gave him a sideways high five instead, which wasn't bad, but not Cody had expected.<br/>
"Seojun Min." He said.<br/>
Cody noticed when he said that Seojun had sharp canine teeth and green braces that matched his eyes and earrings.<br/>
"Nice to meet you." Cody said. Seojun simply nodded, but was clearly engaged in the conversation.<br/>
"So, what do you think of Griffin Rock so far Seojun?" Cody asked, also trying to make sure he could pronounce his name correctly.<br/>
Seojun shrugged. "It's okay, it's pretty quiet I guess." He said.<br/>
"It's usually pretty noisey round here, but maybe you don't hear all that since you don't live that close to town." Cody said.<br/>
"That makes sense, I also haven't come over here until now." He said.<br/>
"Seriously, you haven't?" He asked in surprise.<br/>
"Yeah, I've been busy getting used to my house and moving things around. My siblings went, they said it was nice." Seojun elaborated.<br/>
"Oh okay." Cody said.<br/>
"You should come with us sometime, we could show you around." Frankie chimed in, leaning over Cody's desk.<br/>
Seojun's eyes lit up for a second. "Really? That'd be cool." He said.<br/>
Cody looked over to Frankie with confusion, what was she up to?<br/>
She shrugged at him and continued talking. "Even though the island's pretty small, there's a lot of cool things to see around here. And-"</p><p>Ms. Gale clapped her hands together, "Okay class, you can talk more later. Right now, we have a syllabus to go over."</p><p>Frankie sat back down in her seat and Ms. Gale passed out the syllabus. Cody glanced at Seojun, who was very engrossed in the paper at the moment and went back to looking at his own.<br/>
He'd just ask for his number later.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Afternoon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is just a little bit to bridge the gap between the last chapter and the next one.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The bell finally rang and Cody jumped up from his desk. Walking home after school was one of the best parts of the day. It always left him feeling calmer after a long day of work.</p><p>Frankie had skipped over his desk to talk to Seojun.<br/>
"So, where are you from?" She asked curiously.<br/>
He paused for a moment. "South Korea." He said.<br/>
"Cool, how come you guys moved here?" She asked, walking a little closer to him.<br/>
"My father's work." He said.<br/>
"Oh that makes sense, what's his job?" She asked.<br/>
"Uh…"<br/>
"You don't have to ask him so many questions at once, you might annoy him." Cody said, slinging his book bag over his shoulder.<br/>
Frankie scoffed. "I'm not annoying him." She said. Then she turned to Seojun, "Am I annoying you?" She asked him.<br/>
Seojun shrugged. "Not really, but you are asking me a lot of things." He said.<br/>
"My bad, I was just curious." She said.<br/>
"It's fine." He pointed at the door with his thumb. "I'm leaving." They didn't really have the chance to say goodbye because he quickly walked away after saying that.</p><p>Frankie gave Cody a "wtf" look as soon as he was gone.<br/>
"What?" Cody asked.<br/>
"Why'd you have to go and say all that, I was just trying to get to know him." She said.<br/>
"You could do that later, he'll probably be here tomorrow." He suggested.<br/>
Frankie put her hands on her hips. "Are you still embarrassed you bumped into him?" She asked.<br/>
"Nah." Cody denied.<br/>
Frankie rolled her eyes. "Right… He didn't seem to care that much anyway, why are you hung up over it?" She asked.<br/>
"It did just happen this morning, give me a break Frankie." He said.<br/>
Frankie adjusted her backpack. "Okay fine, let's go home, everybody's already gone." She said.<br/>
"Finally. I thought you were trying to keep me here forever." He joked as they walked out of the classroom.<br/>
Frankie elbowed him, shoving him over slightly. "Shut up." She laughed.</p><p>Cody and Frankie walked into the firehouse. The rest of the Burns family was out working, so it was quiet. Cody took off his shoes and jacket and decided to get a snack before he started his homework and Frankie did the same, helping herself to some chips and sitting on the couch.</p><p>"But you were the one who said it couldn't hurt to get to know the new guys." She said.<br/>
Cody curled his lip and squinted his eyes. "You're still on this?" He replied.<br/>
"Yeah. Seriously, you already apologized and he seemed chill. It's fine." She said.<br/>
Cody set down his cup of orange juice. "Yeah probably, maybe we'll see him on the way to school tomorrow or something." He said.<br/>
"That's closer to the spirit!" Frankie said.<br/>
Cody rolled his eyes. "Anyway, let's just start on this stuff." Cody pulled out things from his classes.<br/>
"At least it's not a lot." Frankie said.<br/>
"Yeah, but I still don't wanna do it." Cody replied.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Partners</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was only Tuesday, but Cody felt like a whole week had passed by. It was only the second day of school and the days were already starting to feel longer. That was seriously disappointing.</p><p>Frankie had been wrong about seeing Seojun on the way to school. Despite the school having such a small population, Cody hadn't seen him at all today.</p><p>For such a big dude he sure knew how to hide.</p><p>That was probably for the better, Cody didn't feel like messing up and doing something embarrassing again.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ugh! It wasn't even that bad, I'm totally just drawing it out for no reason!</em>
</p><p>Cody shook that thought out of his head as he headed to his third period class, English.</p><p> </p><p>English was one of Cody's least favorite subjects, he was more of a math, science, and history guy. Writing long essays and finding the author's purpose wasn't his favorite, but he still got it done. If there was anything like geography or a cool book involved though it was actually fun.</p><p> </p><p>He trudged into the classroom and noticed the desk set up. They were set up in rows with two desks facing each other and the seats were assigned. Cody went on to find his desk, hopefully whoever sat across him didn't breathe out of their mouth.</p><p> </p><p>His desk was at the back of the classroom by the window. He sat down his backpack and slid into his seat. He felt less tired now that he was sitting, he could finally relax.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh wait, who's gonna sit here?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He looked at the nametag on the desk across from his upside down so he didn't have to get back up.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun Min? Aw man, not again…</p><p> </p><p>So Seojun was in two of his classes and sits near him in both? Just his luck. Hopefully today would be fine, Seojun was quiet so he probably wouldn't bother him much.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh hey."</p><p> </p><p>Cody looked up from his desk to Seojun who had somehow taken his seat when he wasn't looking.</p><p> </p><p>Yeesh! How'd I not hear him?</p><p> </p><p>"Hi." Cody said back shortly.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun nodded and settled himself in.</p><p>He looked really closed up with his hands clasped in his lap under his desk and his legs tightly crossed. </p><p> </p><p>Mr. Glendale passed out yet another syllabus and Cody tried to read over it, but was distracted by muttering.</p><p> </p><p>He glanced at Seojun from behind his paper. Seojun had reading glasses on and was frowning and squinting as he read out loud with his head leaning on his right hand.</p><p> </p><p>Cody tapped his desk to get his attention.</p><p> </p><p>"Huh?" Seojun's eyes shot fully open and he looked up at Cody with a confused face.</p><p> </p><p>"Could you quiet down some, you're kind of distracting me." Cody asked.</p><p>Seojun leaned back in his desk and set the paper down. "Oh sorry, I'm just not that used to English yet, so it helps to sound it out." He explained. "Plus, it's printed really small."</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah it is." Cody said, looking over it to see what Seojun was talking about. "If you want, I could just read it to you to make it easier for both of us." He suggested.</p><p> </p><p>"That'd be nice, thanks. I'll follow on my paper." Seojun replied.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun listened attentively as Cody read and he seemed to loosen up a little bit too until they finished and Mr. Glendale started talking about upcoming work.</p><p> </p><p>"Starting Thursday, you and your seating partner will be working on a project describing Griffin Rock. I'll give you all the rubrics next class and I suggest traveling the island to think about what you'll be writing about." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody looked at Seojun from the corner of his eye and noticed Seojun was also looking at him.</p><p>Cody immediately whipped his head away from him and back towards Mr. Glendale, who was still talking. Cody didn't end up listening to much though.</p><p> </p><p>The bell rang soon after and before Cody left, Seojun passed him an index card.</p><p>"Guess we're taking that island tour early." He remarked.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Guess I'll actually have to talk to him now.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Realizing something, Cody looked up from the card to Seojun who had already walked a considerable distance down the hallway.</p><p>"Wait, Seojun! Ms. Gale's class is the other way!" Cody called after him hastily.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Another short one, but the story will start picking up soon.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Around Town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Thoughts are in italics.</p><p>When texting</p><p>(Cody</p><p>/Seojun</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody hadn't talked much to Seojun since. Not because he didn't like him, he just wasn't really sure what to say. They mostly just exchanged greetings and Frankie chatted both of their ears off.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun had a blank face most of the time. He didn't look particularly tired or bored, just kind of there. He noticed Seojun would also look at him when he thought he wouldn't notice.</p><p> </p><p>Mr. Gledale passed out the rubrics the day before and Cody and Seojun read it over together. They could do one of four things. Describe the geography of the island, describe the people, give a run down on it's history, or describe the town itself.</p><p>They could do it through an infographic, slideshow, essay, or a video. If they had any other ideas they could ask Mr. Glendale.</p><p> </p><p>Cody had told Seojun that he'd text him today after school so that they could decide when Cody would show him around.</p><p>Cody sat on the floor with his back against the foot of his bed, staring down at his phone. He had already saved Seojun's number and everything, he just had to send a simple text. That was it.</p><p> </p><p>(Hi, it's Cody.</p><p> </p><p>That was fine, it was simple and didn't make Cody want to cringe. Seojun took about three minutes to reply, typing for two of them.</p><p> </p><p>/Hello.</p><p> </p><p>That was it, after three minutes? Nah, maybe he just has trouble with spelling or grammar or something. It was really none of his business, at least he replied.</p><p> </p><p>(So, when are you free?</p><p> </p><p>/Free?</p><p> </p><p>(When do you have time to do this?</p><p> </p><p>/Oh okay, I understand.</p><p>/I've got time tomorrow and Sunday. How about you?</p><p> </p><p>(I'm free the whole weekend too, but I'd rather go on Saturday.</p><p> </p><p>/Okay, Saturday's fine. </p><p>/What time should we go?</p><p> </p><p>(I think we should go in the afternoon so we don't have to wake up early and we'll have time to look at everything.</p><p> </p><p>/I think the evening would be better, sometime around 18:00. It's not too dark out then and I like how the sky looks around here.</p><p> </p><p>So he uses all twenty four hours instead of cutting it in half.</p><p>It took Cody a minute to count on his fingers to get that he was saying they should go at six.</p><p> </p><p>(It gets cold at night around here, even in the summer sometimes. We could go at 4, we'd have time to see the sights and you could still see the sunset while we're out.</p><p> </p><p>He could look at it on his own time though…</p><p> </p><p>/That sounds good to me. Where should we meet?</p><p> </p><p>(Let's meet at City Hall.</p><p> </p><p>/Okay, see you tomorrow.</p><p> </p><p>(Bye.</p><p> </p><p>Cody leaned back against the foot of his bed and sighed. Seojun seemed pretty cool, so why was he so against seeing him?</p><p> </p><p>Cody woke up late at noon the next, still feeling pretty tired. He brushed his teeth, showered, and had a bowl of cereal. Then he walked downstairs to the bunker to see what the bots were up too.</p><p> </p><p>Blades was watching his Saturday cartoons, Boulder was painting, Chase was reading a book, and Heatwave was just kind of chilling in the middle of all of it.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey guys!" Cody called out to them from the stairs.</p><p>"Hi Cody!" Boulder responded, looking up from his work.</p><p>"Good Morning." Blades didn't look away from the tv.</p><p>"Isn't it afternoon now?" Chase replied.</p><p>"Maybe. I don't know. It still feels like morning to me." Blades said nonchalantly.</p><p>"Hey Cody, what's up?" Heatwave asked.</p><p>Cody brushed his still damp hair out of his face. "Not much, just kind of waiting for the day to pass by. What are you guys up too?" Cody responded.</p><p>"Still waiting for Optimus to call back." Heatwave said with a heavy sigh.</p><p>He still hasn't said anything yet? He's gotta be seriously busy if he hasn't sent a message or anything. It's been two weeks!" Cody exclaimed.</p><p>Heatwave shrugged. "Yeah, but he's just kinda like that so there's really nothing we can do about it." He said.</p><p>"It still sucks though." Blades added.</p><p>"Yeah." Cody agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Cody left soon after with his hands up behind his head. What would Optimus say? He doubted that Optimus would panic about it, he'd probably say something like they need to steadily earn their trust and then inform them about the bots. What would they do if they didn't take it so well though?</p><p> </p><p>Cody spent most of the day lounging around in his pj's watching TV and eating snacks. At 3:30 he decided to get ready to go. He did his hair like usual and put on his usual jacket. Since he hadn't done all of his laundry yet, he put on a white t-shirt that was red where the holes were and ripped blue jeans.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Yeah, this is fine.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>At 3:55 Cody headed out to City Hall which was close to the middle of the town. At 4:01 he stood on the stairs and waited for Seojun.</p><p> </p><p>And waited.</p><p> </p><p>And waited..</p><p> </p><p>And waited…</p><p> </p><p>And-</p><p> </p><p>"Where the hell is he?" Cody said to himself, scanning the area. It was 4:26 now and Seojun still hadn't shown up. He hadn't read or answered his texts either.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>He better not have forgotten…</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned to leave, but then he heard running from the other side. Seojun had come from around the corner when Cody wasn't looking and stopped in front of him. It was 4:30 now.</p><p>Cody was about to talk, but Seojun spoke first.</p><p>"So before you say anything, I got lost. Sorry about that." He explained in between pants, bent over with his hands on his knees.</p><p>"I'd never seen the building before so-"</p><p>Cody waved him off. "Don't worry about it, you don't have to explain anymore. I probably should've given you directions." He admitted sheepishly.</p><p>"Maybe, but it's too late for that now." Seojun replied.</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p> </p><p>They stood silently for a moment. Seojun recovered and stood up straight. His hair was in two braids down his scalp and he wore a white tank top with a long sleeved, thin, long, acid wash jean shirt over it and falling off of his shoulders, dark blue jeans with a black belt, and black tennis shoes. He also had a small silver hoop earring in each ear.</p><p> </p><p>"So, should we get going now?" Cody asked.</p><p>"Yeah, sure. Let's go." Seojun said.</p><p>"Okay." Cody said. "Since we're already here, let's start at City Hall." </p><p> </p><p>Cody awkwardly told Seojun everything that he knew and Seojun took notes attentively while muttering.</p><p> </p><p>They went to the hospital, Doc's lab, the park, Mayor Luskey's house, Mount Griffin, and also Cody's house.</p><p> </p><p>"This is the firehouse, it's also where my family and I live." Cody explained.</p><p>"How come you live in a firehouse?" Seojun asked curiously.</p><p>"My family are all first responders. My dad's a Police officer, my oldest brother's a firefighter, my sister is an emt, and my youngest brother's an engineer. So it kind of doubles as both a home and a base of operations" He said.</p><p>Seojun's eyes lit up with fascination and he made a face of astonishment.</p><p>"Wow cool." He looked over to Cody. "Are you gonna do stuff like that?" He asked.</p><p>Cody shrugged. "Probably, still not sure what though." He answered.</p><p>"Well at least you've got some time to think." Seojun said.</p><p>"Yeah, but I'd sure like to know what I want now." Cody said.</p><p>"Yeah, I understand." Seojun said quietly.</p><p> </p><p>Lastly the two boys stopped at the docks. Cody liked letting the salty air blow through his hair and closing his eyes. It was so relaxing.</p><p>"The sky's really nice." Seojun spoke up. It was 6:40 and the sun was mostly done setting. The sky was fading from pink and orange to dark blue.</p><p>"Yeah." Cody replied.</p><p>They stood silently for a few minutes and the sun set completely. The wind was cool and blew on them lightly. Cody was about to call it a night until Seojun spoke up.</p><p> </p><p>"Cody?" Seojun said.</p><p>That got Cody's attention immediately, probably just because Seojun had never addressed him by his name before.</p><p>"Can I ask you something?" He asked.</p><p>Cody hesitated. "Um, sure?" He said.</p><p>"Sorry if this is stupid, but um." He paused and scratched his head nervously. "Did I do something wrong?"</p><p> </p><p>Cody frowned "What?" He asked in confusion.</p><p> </p><p>Where'd he get that idea?</p><p> </p><p>Seojun stepped back a little. "Nevermind, maybe I said too much. We could end the tour if you want." He sputtered nervously.</p><p> </p><p>Cody shook his head. "No, it's fine, just explain why you thought that, since you already started." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun rested his right hand on his tilted head and sighed. "Well uh, you always look kind of irritated whenever I talk and you're um super tense and you don't really talk much." He explained. "I just kind of thought you hated me or disliked me or something."</p><p> </p><p>Cody facepalmed. <em>Geez, it was that noticeable? Now I feel like a dick.</em></p><p> </p><p>Seojun stood patiently, waiting for him to answer.</p><p>Cody sighed and shook his head. "No, you're cool actually. I'm just really awkward for some reason. I didn't mean to make you think that, honestly. Sorry." He apologized.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun relaxed. "Oh that's a relief ! Sorry for jumping to conclusions. I'm not really used to meeting new people." He said.</p><p>Cody chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I'm not either."</p><p>He looked up at Seojun who smiled at him. Cody hadn't seen him smile before now. He had deep dimples that were really charming and big white teeth, he smiled with his eyes too, which were mostly closed but still shining. He looked…..nice.</p><p>For some reason unbeknownst to Cody his face heated up when he smiled back. Maybe it was because of the weight lifted off of his shoulders.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun closed his smile and looked towards the ocean. "It's late, I've gotta get going or my mam will start looking for me." He said.</p><p>Cody nodded. "Yeah, I should get home too." He agreed.</p><p>"I'll see you on Monday?" Seojun asked.</p><p>Cody nodded. "See you on Monday Seojun."</p><p> </p><p>Seojun left first, leaving Cody alone at the docs. He reached his hand up to his fast beating heart and looked out on the horizon without thought. Then, he turned on his heels to leave as well.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Table talk</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts are in italics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody pulled his lunch out of his bookbag and walked alongside Frankie to the cafeteria.</p><p> </p><p>"So you're talking to Seojun now? Way to go, I almost didn't think you had it in you." She teased, applauding him in a joking manner.</p><p>Cody rolled his eyes. "Shut up Frankie, it's not like we weren't talking. I just didn't know what to say." He said.</p><p>"Uh huh, sure Cody." She said.</p><p>"I'm sad y'all took the tour without me, Seojun said he had fun though." She added.</p><p>Cody was surprised. "You guys talk?"</p><p>"Uh yeah, we've been texting each other like all weekend." She replied like it was obvious.</p><p>"Really? Did he say anything about me?" Cody asked.</p><p>Frankie's face formed a mischievous smile. "Why do you wanna know?"</p><p>Cody choked and his voice cracked when he spoke. "No uh- no reason, just curious." He spluttered.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Wow, nice save Cody. You're <strong>SO</strong> convincing.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Frankie shrugged. "He said you turned very red for some reason, that's about it."</p><p>"That's about it? Does that mean he said something else?" Cody asked.</p><p>Frankie thought for a moment. "Nah. He didn't."</p><p>"Oh okay." Cody replied. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved about that or not, but it was whatever. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Did I really turn that red though?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody and Frankie sat down at a round table with Billy, Timmy, and Wes who were already engaged in some conversation of their own.</p><p> </p><p>"I think we're a little too chill about the fact the parrots can talk." Timmy said.</p><p>"Yeah, like they have no lips. How do they make "b" and "m" noises?" Billy asked.</p><p>"You don't have any lips either and you manage to do it." Timmy replied.</p><p>Wes choked on his milk and covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.</p><p>Billy's mouth opened wide in surprise at that. "Bro…"</p><p>"See, you're good." Timmy continued.</p><p>"Stop it!" Billy laughed.</p><p>"Should I tell Timmy he doesn't really have any room to talk?" Frankie asked.</p><p>Cody looked over to Timmy and Billy who were still at it and then back to her. "Nah."</p><p>"Aw man." Frankie muttered.</p><p>"It's all fun until someone actually gets offended and I'm not about to watch that." Cody said.</p><p>"Yeah, true." Frankie agreed.</p><p> </p><p>As the kids were enjoying their lunch, they heard loud noises from the cafeteria doors.</p><p>Everyone at their table looked over curiously, wondering what was going on.</p><p>Seojun and four other guys were walking over from the gym and were playing around in the hallway. Seojun escaped a headlock from one of them and said something to them, pointing to the inside of the cafeteria. The guys lightly punched him and clapped his back and off they went. Once they did, Seojun put his hands in his pockets and walked into the cafeteria.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, it's the new kid. I haven't met him yet." Billy said.</p><p>"Everyone who has P.E. with him says he's a beast, dude! George says coach is trying to get him to join a sport, but he seems kinda reluctant about it." Wes said.</p><p>"I mean, he's only been coming here for two weeks. Maybe he just wants to get used to it first." Timmy suggested.</p><p>"Yeah, maybe." Billy agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Said new kid walked over to the table after getting a lunch tray. "Um, do you mind if I sit here?" He asked.</p><p>"Nah, it's cool." Billy said.</p><p>Seojun set his bookbag down and sat beside Billy, close to Frankie, and diagonal to Cody.</p><p> </p><p>"So what's your name dude?" Timmy asked.</p><p>"Seojun." He replied.</p><p>"So-june?"</p><p>"Seojun."</p><p>"Se-jin?"</p><p>"Seojun."</p><p>"Su-john?"</p><p>"What?" By then, Seojun stopped trying and focused on eating his tater tots. His nose wrinkled when he ate one, but he continued anyway.</p><p> </p><p>"What do you think of Griffin Rock?" Wes asked curiously.</p><p>Seojun paused and glanced over at Cody who almost flinched at that.</p><p>"It's fine. Kind of loud, but not busy like where I'm from, and you can see the stars at night on a regular basis." Seojun explained.</p><p>"Wait, you can't see the stars where you're from?" Billy asked in surprise.</p><p>Seojun shook his head. "Not always, the lights are very bright and it's often cloudy at night." He said.</p><p>"Damn, that sucks." Frankie said.</p><p>Seojun shrugged. "Eh, kind of, but I'm used to it." He replied.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun couldn't seem to get a bite of food without somebody interrupted him with another question.</p><p>"So are you gonna join a sport this year?" Billy asked.</p><p>Seojun shrugged. "I'm not sure, it sounds like a lot." He said.</p><p>"It can be, but it's also fun. You have an outlet to get some energy out and on a team you make close friends you might not have had otherwise. Plus in some sports you can be aggressive." Cody said.</p><p>"Huh. Maybe I'll think about it." He said.</p><p>Cody hadn't realized he was smiling at him until Seojun smiled back and his face lit up again.</p><p>"Um, are you okay?" Wes asked, looking at Cody's face with concern.</p><p> </p><p>So it really is that red.</p><p> </p><p>Cody drank the last of his milk. "Yeah, I'm good."</p><p>Seojun smiled even wider from the other side of the table. From the looks of it, he was close to laughing. Frankie was already doing that though.</p><p>Cody stick his tongue in his cheek and rolled his eyes. "Really?" He said.</p><p>Frankie snorted. "Sorry, I could help it." She said.</p><p> </p><p>Soon after, the bell rang and the table scattered.</p><p>Seojun took some of the food he hadn't gotten to eat and got up from his chair.</p><p>"What's your next class Seojun?" Frankie asked.</p><p>"Math, you guys?" </p><p>"We're in Social studies right now." Frankie said.</p><p>Seojun nodded and took a bite of pizza. "Okay, see you later." He walked off quickly, disappearing down the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>Frankie turned to Cody soon after. "Geez, he was right. You really do turn super red, man." She said.</p><p>"Thanks, I didn't notice." Cody said sarcastically.</p><p>Frankie giggled. "Come on, let's go, Mr. Peterson might already be marking us absent." She started pulling him along and he followed.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why did I turn so red though? That was so awkward. What did Seojun think? Geez, he probably thought that was weird. Noble...</em>
</p><p> </p><p>By the time they got back, Cody was too lost in his own awkwardness to focus properly on the work he was supposed to be doing.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. A little Pynch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Social Studies, Cody walked alone to English class. He had mostly calmed down since lunchtime and was looking forward to getting more work done on his and Seojun's project. They were going to describe the town and build a model of it, right now they were still drawing out the model and deciding what materials to use for it, but it was going well.</p><p>Seojun was a hard worker and didn't want to half ass it and was always making sure he knew what was going on. He was also pretty cheerful and that really helped a lot if they were at a frustrating part.</p><p>He turned in the hallway towards the classroom and outside of the door, he saw Seojun talking to a girl. After looking at them a little closer, he realized that it was Priscilla Pynch. </p><p>Seojun was standing in front of the lockers and she faced him. He looked pretty awkward and kind of closed off, but he nodded or made some indication that he was listening everytime that she said something.</p><p>Cody walked over to the doorway of the classroom and stood across the door from them. <br/>"Hey guys." He said. Priscilla and Seojun turned to him. Priscilla looked annoyed that she was interrupted, but Seojun looked happy to see him.<br/>"Hey Cody, what's up?" Seojun said cheerfully.<br/>"Not much, Social Studies was pretty boring today. We just wrote a bunch of notes." Cody explained."Same here, except I had math class." Seojun replied.</p><p>Priscilla stood close behind Seojun and looked as if she was waiting for Cody to stop talking. <br/>"So, have you thought of any new ideas for the project?" Seojun asked.<br/>"I think we should 3D print the building models. It'd be cool and would make sizing easier." Cody replied. <br/>"Cool, when should we start doing that?" Seojun asked.<br/>"When we get the planning done, we'll start at the library and if that doesn't work out, I asked Doc Greene if I could use his, and if that doesn't work out we can use my brother's." Cody said.<br/>"Wow, you really thought this through." Seojun said in awe.</p><p>"Yeah, I want us to do well, especially since it's our first project of the year." Cody explained.<br/>"That makes sense, that's pretty cool Cody." Seojun said.<br/>Cody felt his cheeks go bright red and he brushed his hair out of his face, this new awkward smile of his was becoming typical. "Thanks." He said.<br/>"Sure." Seojun replied.</p><p>Priscilla then interrupted. "Anyway Seojun, it'd be cool to talk to you more. We should totally hang out sometime." She said. "I should go to class, I'll give you my number later."<br/>She walked away and disappeared into the crowd of students. Seojun and Cody still stood in front of the door, just kind of looking in her direction.<br/>"Okay." Seojun muttered. He walked into the classroom and Cody followed behind him.</p><p>"What was that all about?" Cody asked when they sat down at their desks.<br/>Seojun shrugged. "Eh, I'm not entirely sure. She's been talking to me a lot lately. Um, now that I think about it, a few girls have." He said casually as he doodled in his notebook. Cody laughed and lightly smacked Seojun's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Only a month here and you're already popular." He said.</p><p>Seojun squinted. "Really?" He asked.<br/>"Duh! You've got the coaches curious about what you can do, a lot of people think you're cool, you've got girls wanting to give you their number and-" Seojun cut him off with a chuckle.<br/>"Okay, I think I get it Cody." He said, grinning brightly and holding his hands out as if to physically stop him. </p><p>Cody's heart was racing, but he ignored that. "Sorry, I was just surprised you hadn't noticed." He said. </p><p>Seojun shrugged. "It's cool, I just don't pay too much attention to most people. Having a few close friends is good enough for me." He explained.</p><p>Cody nodded to indicate that he understood. <br/>"Yeah, that makes sense to me." He replied.<br/>After that, they started to get to work on their model and Cody wondered quietly if Seojun would end up noticing anyone else.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Working late</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On Wednesday Cody and Seojun were in the library after school printing out the miniature buildings. The project was due the coming Friday and they were almost done. They just had to actually build the model and write a short paragraph describing where everything is.</p><p>Cody was working the printer and Seojun was putting things in place to make sure they had everything before they started gluing things down to the cardboard town.</p><p>"How's it going over there Seojun?" Cody called from the printer over to the nearby table where Seojun was working at.</p><p>"Pretty good so far." He said.</p><p>"Noble." Cody responded.</p><p>After everything was printed, Cody sat across from Seojun and helped him adjust the models and glue things down.</p><p>"You're pretty good at this." Seojun said.</p><p>"Thanks, I like building things so that's probably why." Cody replied.</p><p>"I like drawing and reading." Seojun said.</p><p>"Noble! Maybe you could show me some of your art sometime?" Cody exclaimed</p><p>"Shh!" Ms. Lima hushed him harshly.</p><p>"Sorry." Cody whispered.</p><p>Seojun chuckled. "Yeah, I'd like that." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody decided to type up the paragraph and Seojun added little finishing touches to the model.</p><p>"I think we'll definitely get an A on this one Seojun." Cody said excitedly.</p><p>"Mm-hm." Seojun muttered.</p><p>"So who's taking it home?" Cody asked.</p><p>"Not me. Too many kids at my house." Seojun answered. His voice was starting to slow and drag out, but Cody hadn't noticed that yet.</p><p>"Pfft! Okay, you can trust me with it." He promised.</p><p>"Mm." Seojun murmured.</p><p> </p><p>Cody took a minute to type before talking some more. Seojun was completely silent when he was done proof reading it.</p><p> </p><p>"Seojun?" Cody said. Instead of an answer, he heard light snoring. He looked past the monitor of his laptop and saw Seojun still sitting across from him, fast asleep with his head down on the table.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Should I wake him up? He looks so peaceful though.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun's eyebrows which were often furrowed, softened up in his sleep. His face was also relaxed enough that Cody could only see his dimples if he shifted and the steady rising and falling of his back was calming.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Is this weird? I mean, I'm just kind of staring at him.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He turned his head to the left in his sleep and Cody saw something he hadn't noticed before.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Wait, he has fairy ears?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Instead of a typical curved shape to the shells of the ears of most people, his were flat and pointed slightly at the end. Cody had a huge soft spot for unusual features on people.</p><p> </p><p>Cody leaned on the desk with his head in his hands and sighed. He tapped Seojun on the ear, just to wake him up of course. They were done with their project, so it was time to go. In an instant Seojun grabbed Cody by the arm, taking him by surprise. He almost yelped, but somehow remembered they were in a library and shut his mouth.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked up at him with his chin resting on his arm. "Oi.." He muttered, his eyes puffy and his voice lower and softer from sleep. He said something else loud enough for Cody to hear, but he didn't understand it because it clearly wasn't in english.</p><p> </p><p>"What?" Cody asked.</p><p>Seojun rested his head to the right, still holding onto Cody. "A nap won't hurt, I'm sleepy." He said, releasing his hold on Cody. Cody smiled and rolled his eyes. "You sure?" He asked. Seojun nodded with his eyes closed. "Definitely." He murmured.</p><p> </p><p>To be honest, Cody was also feeling a little sleepy too. Usually he just takes naps at home though and not in public spaces, but joining Seojun for one was really tempting right now.</p><p> </p><p>Cody sighed. "Why not?" He mumbled.</p><p>He laid his head down on his closed laptop with his arms mostly around his head with the top of his head against his wrists. He listened to the silence of the library and soon fell asleep himself.</p><p> </p><p>Not long later he felt someone shaking him.</p><p>"Not now." He murmured.</p><p>"Yes now!" Kade said harshly just above a whisper.</p><p>Cody sat up with his head in his hands and looked over at Kade who had his arms foldered over his chest and looked rather cross.</p><p>"Really Cody?" He said.</p><p>Cody chuckled sheepishly, scratching behind his left ear. "No?" He joked.</p><p>Kade breathed in through his nose. "Dad was about to patrol the town looking for you, and then I get a call from Ms. Lima saying you and your buddy here fell asleep in the library." He shook his head at them. "Is this a new thing the kids are doing?" He asked turning to a still sleeping Seojun as well</p><p>Cody shook his head. "No, we were just tired." He said. Kade rolled his eyes at him. "It's 7 o'clock, wake him up so we can get him and ourselves home." He instructed.</p><p>"Okay." Cody replied.</p><p> </p><p>Cody shook Seojun's shoulder. He didn't budge, he was almost completely still. "Seojun." He shook him again. "Seojun?" Seojun still didn't move. "Seojun!" Seojun lifted his head up and rested his chin on his arms. "Huh, what?" He muttered.</p><p>"Geez, you're like a rock." Cody commented.</p><p>Seojun chuckled. "Sorry, what time is it now?" He asked. "7:14." Kade answered. </p><p>Seojun jumped when Kade responded, he hadn't noticed him before then. He calmed down after a second though. Kade gave him a funny look. "Okay.." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody and Seojun gathered their things and Kade waited for them. "Come on now, we're burning daylight." Kade said impatiently.</p><p>"Okay, okay, I'm coming already." Cody said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.</p><p>Seojun followed close behind him.</p><p> </p><p>They walked outside and stood in the warm summer breeze for a moment, before Kade spoke up again. "You need a ride home?" He asked Seojun. Seojun grabbed tightly at his lower right ribs and tightened his face. "Nah, I'm good." He said. "You sure? You look kinda like you're in pain" Kade said, looking concerned. "Yeah, I'm sure, it's just a cramp. I'm good." He replied. Clearly trying to get Kade off of his back.</p><p>Cody looked a little sad. "Tell me when you get home safe, okay?" He said. Seojun chortled and ruffled Cody's hair with his free hand. "Okay, see you tomorrow Cody." He said.</p><p>Cody nodded and reached up to touch his head. "Yeah, see ya." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun nodded and walked away. Kade was already next to Heatwave by then.</p><p>"Come on, let's go." He said.</p><p>Cody clutched the strap of his backpack and jogged over to Heatwave and climbed into the passenger seat of his cab.</p><p> </p><p>"You really went and took a nap in the library?" Heatwave asked.</p><p>"You already told him?" Cody asked Kade.</p><p>Kade shrugged. "Can ya blame me?" He said.</p><p>Cody rolled his eyes and leaned against the door, smiling to himself for the rest of the ride home.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Optimus' Answer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The presentation had gone well and they were sure to get an A on it. At the end of the day, Frankie had already moved onto Mathletes practice, so it was just Cody and Seojun sitting next to each other waiting for the bell to ring</p><p> </p><p>"Man, I'm gonna miss walking home with Frankie everyday." Cody complained.</p><p>"Yeah, she's cool." Seojun said nonchalantly.</p><p>Cody stretched in his seat. "And now I'm gonna be bored."</p><p> </p><p>Seojun chuckled and raised his right eyebrow with a smile. "Your house isn't even that far from here, what time would you have to be bored?" He said.</p><p>Cody tilted his head. "I mean sometimes I like to stop and look at stuff, but that's boring with nobody else to talk to."</p><p> </p><p>Seojun huffed. "Are you trying to get me to come with you?" He asked.</p><p>Cody smiled. "Is it working?"</p><p>Seojun rolled his eyes. "Fine I'll come, but only because it's you."</p><p>Cody felt his cheeks turn red, and jokingly punched Seojun in the shoulder. "You don't have to say all that."</p><p>Seojun slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Yeah sure, let's go before I change my mind." He replied, smiling back.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as the bell rang, they quickly escaped the school. Not only were they glad that the day was over, it was also Friday and Seojun was ready to pass out for fourteen hours straight. After he dropped off Cody of course.</p><p> </p><p>"What are you gonna do this weekend?" Cody asked.</p><p>"Eh, I mostly just plan sleeping so far. I'm tired." Seojun replied.</p><p>"That's a good idea, I'll probably be in the command center while everybody else works." Cody replied.</p><p>"Is that good or not?" Seojun asked.</p><p>Cody shrugged. "It's okay, I don't usually have to do that much." </p><p>"Oh okay. What do you do while you're there?" Seojun asked.</p><p>"I just patch channels, tell my family what's going on around the island, and kind of help them through their work." Cody said.</p><p>"That sounds cool, could I come with you sometime?" Seojun asked.</p><p>Cody froze for a second, trying to think of an excuse. "Maybe, but it's kinda boring, so I doubt you'd be that interested in it after a while." He said.</p><p>Seojun scoffed. "When is first response work ever boring?" He said.</p><p>"I guess you have a point there." Cody admitted.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun turned away when Cody entered the passcode to the door and turned the key.</p><p>Cody slammed the door open and Seojun jumped, covering his ears in response. </p><p>"Oh sorry." Cody quickly apologized.</p><p>"It's fine." Seojun replied, straightening himself up.</p><p> </p><p>Cody cleared his throat. "Ahem. Anybody home!" He shouted.</p><p>"Son, I'm right here. You don't have to yell through the whole house." Charlie said, looking up from his newspaper at the dining room table.</p><p>Cody choked on a laugh. "Sorry."</p><p> </p><p>Seojun stood awkwardly in the doorway behind him, shifting his eyes back and forth wondering if he should leave yet.</p><p> </p><p>"Who's this?" Charlie asked.</p><p>"Oh." Cody pulled Seojun beside him. "Dad, this is Seojun, he's my friend from school." Cody said gleefully.</p><p>Seojun smiled awkwardly and gave him a small wave. Charlie got up from the table and stuck his hand out to him. "Nice to meet you Seojun. I'm Charlie Burns, though it'd just be Mr. Burns to you." Charlie introduced himself.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked him up and down cautiously and didn't shake his hand. "Hi." He said simply.</p><p>Charlie slowly took his hand back. "Any chance you're staying for dinner?" He asked.</p><p>Seojun rapidly shook his head. "No I can't, my mam doesn't let me stay at people's houses if she doesn't know them." He said.</p><p> </p><p>"Aw, that sucks." Cody complained.</p><p>He shrugged. "It is what it is. Anyway, I should probably be getting home before someone starts looking for me." Seojun said, already backing out of the door.</p><p>"Okay, see you later Seojun!" Cody called out to him.</p><p>"It was nice meeting you." Charlie added.</p><p>Seojun waved from the sidewalk. "Bye Cody, bye Mr. Burns!"</p><p> </p><p>Charlie shut the door and walked back to the table. "He seems like a nice kid. Real tall though, he could fit in with the bots." He joked.</p><p>Cody rolled his eyes. "Dad.."</p><p>"Okay okay I won't say anything else." Charlie said.</p><p> </p><p>Charlie went back to checking on the spaghetti and Cody went upstairs to his room and changed out of his day clothes. He stretched and stared into space for a moment before walking over to his bed and hearing his phone go off. </p><p> </p><p>/Got home safe.</p><p> </p><p>Cody smiled when he saw Seojun's text. He always texted that he was okay even if Cody didn't ask, it was really sweet. Cody shook his head and texted him back. As soon as he hit the send button, he heard frantic knocking on his door.</p><p> </p><p>"Cody! Come down to the bunker! Optimus is finally calling back!" Graham shouted through the door.</p><p> Cody almost didn't believe it. "Wait really?" </p><p>"Yes! Now hurry up, we don't wanna miss him!" Graham said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody ran to the door and slammed it open. Right behind Graham, he ran down to the bunker and finally reached the bots and the rest of the Burns family. By then he was out of breath, but he still listened closely.</p><p> </p><p>"Optimus, you're back!" Heatwave said.</p><p>"Yes, of course. I was held up with a lot of work recently, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to reply." Optimus replied. "What's happening on Griffin Rock?"</p><p>"It's fine now, we're just glad to get in touch." Boulder said.</p><p>"I'll explain." Heatwave said soon after. "Optimus, the mayor of Griffin Rock let a new family into the town without consulting us. We're not sure what to do now. It would be unethical to make them leave, but it could be dangerous to tell them that we're cybertronian." </p><p> </p><p>Optimus pondered for a moment. "I believe that the Burns family should get to know them personally and gain their trust before deciding what to do. Once you feel that it's time, you should tell them the truth." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody was unsurprised, that was pretty much the answer that he expected.</p><p> </p><p>"But what do we do if they don't take it well? They could tell the whole world about us!" Blades worried.</p><p> </p><p>"You never know how they will take it until you tell them. If things go south, you will know what to do." He said.</p><p> </p><p>"But-" Heatwave started. Optimus had already hung up before he could finish his sentence and Heatwave was left reaching towards the empty screen. "Ugh. Why does he always do that?"</p><p> </p><p>"Well that wasn't very helpful." Dani said.</p><p> </p><p>"At least we have some kind of instructions now." Graham added.</p><p> </p><p>"Barely." Kade said.</p><p> </p><p>"How do we even begin to gain their trust? We barely ever see them in town!" Chase wondered.</p><p> </p><p>Charlie turned to Cody who hadn't said anything yet. "Cody, you could ask your friend about meeting his parents." He suggested. "It could make this easier since you've already started to get to know him."</p><p> </p><p>"Are you sure? Seojun and his family both seem pretty reserved, I'm not sure they'd go for it." Cody hesitated.</p><p> </p><p>"Just ask him! We can't do anything until we get to know them." Kade insisted.</p><p>"It'll probably be fine, it's not surprising that they're quiet. They've only been here for about a month so far." Graham said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody sighed. "Fine, I'll try."</p><p>Dani ruffled his hair. "Thanks buddy." She said.</p><p>"This could really help us a lot." Boulder added.</p><p>"If it doesn't work out, I'll try to find another way. We don't want to invade their space." Charlie added.</p><p>"Yeah okay." Cody said.</p><p> </p><p>After that, the party split up and Cody went back to his room. He looked through his and Seojun's texts. Hopefully, Seojun wouldn't think too much of it.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. A few Mins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day, Cody woke up at 12:15. He had slept in more than he had intended too, but that was fine. After last night he had been really tired. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed. </p><p> </p><p>"Ugh." He groaned groggily as he stretched. As he adjusted his clothes he staggered downstairs to get something to eat.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone else was already awake and out of the house working. Hopefully he hadn't missed anything too important, that would suck. </p><p> </p><p>As he ate a bowl of cereal, he debated texting Seojun. Asking about his parents was definitely a normal question to ask, so why did it feel so weird?</p><p> </p><p>Maybe because he had an ulterior motive. He really wanted to trust him. He didn't seem like the type to freak out about aliens. But who knows? Not everything is as it seems.</p><p> </p><p>He sighed in frustration and put his phone down. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>This is so stupid.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He had to get his mind off of this, he could always be stressed about it later. He finished his breakfast and put the dishes in the sink. After that, he put on a pair of grey sweatpants, a white shirt, his bomber jacket, and some old red converse he found under his bed. He wasn't going to be out long, just long enough to get distracted.</p><p> </p><p>He sauntered back downstairs and put his phone in his pocket. Since it was still early out the air wasn't hot yet, which was nice. That meant he could relax more easily.</p><p> </p><p>He walked around town for a while with his eyes lidded and his arms crossed behind his head. The day was surprisingly calm for one on Griffin Rock. it was almost suspicious, but he decided he wasn't gonna think about that. Instead he decided he should stop at the park before he went home. </p><p> </p><p>Cody walked in to find somewhere to sit and relax and hadn't thought to look close to the ground for anything. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>At least it's not crowded today.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Turns out he wasn't correct about that. As soon as he thought about that, he felt his left leg make contact with something, or rather someone, way shorter than him. He nearly tripped, but after flailing his arms around clumsily he caught himself. </p><p> </p><p>When he caught his breath he met eyes with a young girl he had never seen before. She had short sandy brown curly hair to her jaw, light brown skin, pouty pink lips, and big hazel eyes. She looked pretty familiar actually.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, sorry about that. I didn't see you there. Are you okay?" Cody asked her.</p><p>She held tightly to a grey stuffed bunny and nodded.</p><p>"Are you here with anyone? I can help you find them if you need to." He offered.</p><p>The girl opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by someone calling for her.</p><p> </p><p>"Eloho!" He shouted.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh no.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Just when he had started to forget about him, here Seojun was running over to them with a gaggle of kids.</p><p> </p><p>He stopped close behind her and knelt down. "Why'd you run off like that?" He asked her.</p><p>Eloho responded in a language that Cody couldn't understand, but he could by the look on Seojun's face that he wasn't satisfied with her answer.</p><p> </p><p>"You can't do that, you don't know the area. Plus, mam said we have to stay together." Seojun said.</p><p>Eloho pouted and frowned, looking down at the ground.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey, is everything okay?" Cody asked.</p><p>Seojun stood up and patted Eloho's head. "Yeah, we're good. This one here just broke off from the rest of us." He said with a cheeky smile. Eloho balled up her little fists in response.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh okay." Cody said.</p><p> </p><p>"So how's your day been going?" Seojun asked.</p><p>Cody choked up at that question, he couldn't tell him exactly what he was thinking about. It had been a while since he had to keep a secret from anyone.</p><p> </p><p>"It's been good, I've just been kind of walking around town." He responded.</p><p>"Alone? Lucky you. My oldest brother wanted to go to the store and I wanted to go with him, then suddenly everyone else wanted to." Seojun said, gesturing to all of the other kids.</p><p> </p><p>Cody chuckled. "Sounds like a hassle." He said.</p><p>"Ugh, you wouldn't know." Seojun groaned.</p><p>"So who are these guys?" Cody asked.</p><p>"Okay, um. There's my sisters Eloho, Estelle, and Alena, my brother Lee, and my niece Kamina's here too, but she's with my other brother." Seojun said, pointing to each of the kids when he said their names. They all looked pretty similar and they also all looked tired of standing here.</p><p> </p><p>"Can we go now? I wanna skateboard?" Lee said. He was clearly the oldest one and was about half Seojun's height, he was also pretty tall.</p><p> </p><p>"We could take them to the playground, it's not far." Cody suggested.</p><p>"Yeah sure, just give me a minute to herd up all these guys." Seojun half-joked.</p><p>"Okay." Cody said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody watched for a few minutes watching Seojun struggle to round up his younger siblings. He couldn't help but smile, it was so cute.</p><p> </p><p>"Okay, guys we're following Cody now, let's go." Seojun instructed the kids.</p><p>"Oh, that's what it's called?" Alena said. It didn't sound malicious at all, but it still sounded weird to him.</p><p>"Yep, that's his name Alena." Seojun corrected her.</p><p>"Oh. Okay." She said.</p><p>"Come on dude, lead the way!" Lee insisted, holding up his skateboard.</p><p>"Yeah okay, I'm going." Cody said.</p><p>Estelle said something to Seojun after that, which must have not have been good since he shushed her soon after.</p><p> </p><p>It only took about five minutes to get there, but by the time Cody and Seojun reached that picnic table they were exhausted. Cody plopped down on the bench leaning his back on the table, and Seojun plopped down on the opposite bench immediately sitting his arms on the table and laying his head down on them.</p><p> </p><p>"Those siblings of yours have a lot of energy Seojun." Cody remarked.</p><p>"Thanks, they don't get it from me." Seojun joked.</p><p>Cody snorted. "Yeah, that couldn't be more obvious." He replied.</p><p>Seojun rolled his eyes with a small smile.</p><p> </p><p>"My mam wants to meet your dad." Seojun said.</p><p>Cody whipped around to look at Seojun in surprise. "She does?" </p><p>Seojun nodded. "Yup and you too, since we're friends and stuff." He said awkwardly while fidgeting with his hands.</p><p> </p><p>Cody let out an inner sigh of relief, now he didn't have to be the one to ask.</p><p>"Okay, I'll give you my dad's number so you can give it to her. Is that okay?" Cody said.</p><p>"Yeah, that's fine." Seojun said, pulling out his phone.</p><p>"Okay it's 207-xxx-xxxx." Cody said.</p><p>"Got it." Seojun said.</p><p>"Okay." Cody said.</p><p>"Here's my mam's number, I wrote it down before I got here." Seojun handed him a slip of paper and Cody pocketed it. </p><p> </p><p>"Hey Seojun, it's time to go." Cody jumped in surprise and turned around to see someone else standing over him and Seojun.</p><p> </p><p>He was a big man with dark skin, cold shiny green eyes, black hair in short locs, dark eyebrows with a slit in the left one, and like Seojun he was very tall though maybe a little shorter. He had an american accent, but Cody wasn't sure where it was from, and he had a young girl in his arms who was probably Seojun's niece Kamina that he had mentioned earlier.</p><p> </p><p>"Aw okay." Seojun got up from the table. Yeah, he was taller than this other guy, but not by much.</p><p>"Come on guys, let's go!" He called to the kids.</p><p>Groans of disappointment and protest followed, but not long after they gathered around Seojun's older brother.</p><p> </p><p>"Hi, I'm Cody. What's your name?" Cody asked.</p><p>His eyes bore into Cody, he had a cold expression that made it look sort of sort of like he was looking down on him. That look sent shivers down his spine.</p><p>"Kerchek. Nice to meet you." He said coldy, holding out his hand. Cody shook it and Kerchek let go soon after. He gave Cody a stern head nod and turned to leave.</p><p> </p><p>"Sorry about Kerry, he's not always the best when it comes to introductions." Seojun said sheepishly.</p><p>"It's fine, it wasn't that bad." Cody lied.</p><p>Seojun nodded. "Okay, see you later Cody." He said, waving goodbye.</p><p>"Yeah, see ya." Cody replied.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun ran to catch up with Kerchek and his other siblings and Cody decided that it was time to go home. He'd give his dad Seojun's mom's number when he got home. </p><p> </p><p><em>Wait, I forgot to ask for her name</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Cody picked the paper slip out of his pocket, hoping that her name was on it, and luckily it was.</p><p> </p><p>Namseon Min.</p><p> </p><p>He put it back into his pocket for safekeeping and walked back home. Hopefully, gaining her trust wouldn't be so hard.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Some info on their ages.</p><p>Kerchek: 19</p><p>Lee: 8</p><p>Alena: 6</p><p>Eloho: 2 </p><p>Estelle: 2</p><p>Kamina: 1 ½</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Really awkward</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On Sunday night Cody flopped onto his bed on his back. Charlie had called Seojun’s mom almost as soon as Cody gave him her number. They were going to meet at Mr. Marcello’s pizzeria at 5 tomorrow. Hopefully she’d like them enough, not just because of all the alien secrets bullshit, but also because, well he wasn’t sure why he was so nervous about this. But it was whatever, he’d probably be more calm if he got enough sleep tonight.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Heyo!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cody turned around to see Seojun running towards him, waving high into the air with a big grin on his face. He looked a bit older and didn’t have braces. Cody smiled back and Seojun picked him up and spun him around. Cody laughed, “Okay okay, put me down now!” He said, still giggling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun set him down steadily on his feet and Cody gave him a hug.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hey, you're wearing my jacket!” Seojun pointed out gleefully.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Huh?” Cody looked down at his clothes. He noticed a blue and yellow letterman jacket that was definitely too big on him over a fitted black top and blue jeans.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh yeah, I guess I am.” He replied, his face turning bright red.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun smiled brightly, his charming dimples showing. “It looks good on you Cody.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cody smiled, brushing his hair out of his face, “Thanks Jun.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun put his arm around Cody’s shoulders and they walked down the hallway together.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’ll be there at the game tonight right?” Seojun asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Duh! I wouldn’t miss it.” He said, bumping Seojun with his hip.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Of course, why would I even ask?” He said sarcastically.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cody gigged. “What’s your mom making tonight?” He asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Crab gumbo and Kalbi.” Seojun replied.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Ooh! And what about Tylak juice?” Cody asked excitedly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun sighed a deep sigh and closed his eyes. “Yeah, there’ll be Tylak.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Alright! Will she mind if I stay for dinner?” Cody asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“She had a feeling you’d ask, I’ll pick you up after the game’s over.” Seojun said, hugging Cody closer when his class came up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cody couldn’t help but smile again. “Okay, this is my stop. See you later Jun.” He said, hopping up on his tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun clicked his tongue and gave him a joking finger guns with a smile and disappeared down the hallway. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody snapped his eyes open. His heart was racing and his back was cold. </p><p><em>What was that about?</em> He thought in confusion, touching his chest to feel his heart. Dreams are weird, it was probably just anxiety deciding to disturb him in his sleep.</p><p>He wasn’t gonna think of it as anything other than that.</p><p> </p><p>Cody put on a white t-shirt, light blue jeans, his bomber jacket, and his usual red and white tennis shoes. He brushed his hair and grabbed his things and he was off to school. </p><p>“Good morning son.” Charlie said, still looking at his newspaper.</p><p>“Hey dad.” Cody said.</p><p>"Are you ready for today?" He asked.</p><p>"Yeah I think so, but I'd honestly like to go back to sleep." Cody said.</p><p>"Well too bad for you, you've got to get your ed-u-mication." Charlie joked.</p><p>Cody groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ugh fine, I'll go. Bye Dad." He said.</p><p>"See you later Cody." Charlie said.</p><p> </p><p>Frankie met him on the sidewalk and they walked to school together. "Have you ever thought of changing up your style Cody?" She asked</p><p>Cody looked at her with confusion. “What’s wrong with how I look now?” He asked.</p><p>“Oh nothing. It’s just that you’ve been wearing the same things like, all your life. Like have you ever thought of growing or dying your hair, or wearing different types of clothes just to switch it up or anything.” She asked. “Um, no not really.” Cody replied. Frankie laughed and shook her head. “I should’ve expected that.” She commented. He bumped her with his elbow jokingly. “Hey, what does that mean?” He asked. “Nothing I swear!” She laughed. “Sure Frankie. Sure.” Cody said.</p><p> </p><p>They walked in through the front door and Cody was ready to start the day until he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.</p><p>“Cody! Frankie!” Cody turned to see Seojun walking towards them with a big smile on his face and he swore his heart exploded. “Seojun! Hey what’s up?” Frankie asked, dapping him up. “I’m so excited you won’t believe this!” He gave Cody a side hug and Cody tensed up immediately. Seojun looked concerned. “Are you okay Cody? Your face is really red again. Was that my fault?” He asked. Cody shook his head rapidly and attempted to cover his cheeks. “No, I just- I’ve gotta get to class!” Cody yelped. He ran down the hall, leaving Frankie and Seojun behind. Seojun looked at Frankie with confusion. “What’s the matter with him?” He asked. Frankie hummed ‘I don’t know’. “I’ll ask him later, okay?” She said. “Yeah.” Seojun replied hesitantly. </p><p> </p><p>Cody barreled off to math class feeling really embarrassed. </p><p>
  <em>Ugh, what am I doing? It was just a stupid dream, it’s not like he knows about it. It’s fine. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He tried to convince himself that everything was okay, but he just couldn’t get himself to believe that. He couldn’t even ignore how he was feeling and was out of it the entire class.</p><p>Later he sat uncomfortably with his head down and his stomach churning at his desk. Frankie sat down next to him. “Um, are you okay?” She asked. “Yeah, totally.” He mumbled. “You’re lying, I can tell.” She said. Cody sighed and explained the entire dream to Frankie as the class started. “So you like him?” She asked. “No way! I barely know him.” Cody said. “You don’t have to know someone to be attracted to them.” Frankie pointed out. “Well, it’s not like that at all.” Cody said. “Then what else could it be?” Frankie asked. “I don’t know, maybe nerves. Let’s just drop it, I don’t wanna talk about this anymore.” Cody told her with a breaking voice. Frankie nodded. “Okay.” She replied.</p><p> </p><p>Cody was also quiet for most of Biology class until Seojun tapped him after the bell rang. “Cody, are we still on for tonight?” He asked. Cody nodded. “Yeah, sorry for being distant I was just having a rough day.” He explained. “Oh, sorry about that. Are you okay?” He asked. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. You should worry about me stealing your food tonight.” Cody joked. Seojun smiled, showing his fangs. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He clicked his tongue and gave Cody finger guns. “Catch ya later Burns.” He said, turning away to leave. “Yeah, see you in a min.” Cody added maybe a little too enthusiastically, already feeling his face turn bright red. “Boo!” Seojun jokingly disapproved of his pun and disappeared down the hallway. Cody giggled at Seojun’s silliness and Frankie laughed with him. “You sure you don’t like him?” She joked. “Shut up Frankie.” Cody groaned. “You’ll have to make me.” Frankie said, starting to run. “I’m ‘bout to call him back here.” She joked. “No! Stop!” Cody said. Frankie laughed tauntingly as he chased her down the hallway.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Pizza and Parents</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As usual thoughts are in italics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was 6 pm and the sun had started to set. Cody sat in front of his mirror looking at his face. He ran his hands through his hair and thought. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Should I do it differently tonight? You know what? Sure, why not?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He brushed his hair out and pulled two strands back into a ponytail with a rubber band, pulling it into a half up half down style. He patted over it and made sure it was neat. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>It looks nice I guess.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He pulled on a green sweatshirt he found in the back of his closet, black jeans, and shiny brown boots with black laces. He added a wrist watch he never wore and looked in the mirror again. He posed with his hands in his pockets and nodded, folding his lips in his mouth. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Okay! This is kind of a look!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Noble.” He muttered with a prideful smile.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly Kade slammed his bedroom door open, causing Cody to jump in surprise. “Hey Cody, dad says you guys are leaving in ten minutes.” He said. “Hey, I’ve never seen you wear that, you got a date or something?” He asked. Cody blushed and chuckled sheepishly. “No, I’m just meeting up with Seojun and his mom.” He said. “Well, either way ya look nice.” Kade added. Cody smiled. “Thanks Kade.” Kade started shutting the door and nodded. “No problem Code.” </p><p>Cody hopped downstairs and walked up to Charlie who was still in uniform. “Dad, you ready to go?” He asked. Charlie turned to him and his face went from relaxed to surprised. “Oh, who is this?” Charlie joked. Cody rolled his eyes with a smile. “Dad…” He said. “Okay okay, let’s go.” Charlie said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody and Charlie walked the short distance to Marcello’s and Cody smiled immediately when he saw Seojun, who stood just outside the shop door leaning against the wall talking to a tall woman he was sure was Mrs. Min. “Hey Seojun!” Cody called to him waving wildly. Seojun turned around towards him and gave him a bright smile back. “Hey Cody!” he said, leading his mother over to them. Cody watched closely as he walked over to them. His hair was loose and shiny, his curls were defined, his smile was charming as usual and he wore a dangling chain earring that connected to a hoop on the curve of his left ear with a silver stud in his right ear. He wore a v-neck white t-shirt under a black leather jacket that hung off of his shoulders, blue jeans with huge holes at the knees and light brown timberland boots. </p><p> </p><p>“Nice outfit Cody.” He said, taking a red lollipop out of his mouth. “Thanks, yours is cool too.” Cody returned. The tall woman tapped his shoulder with the back of her hand and cleared her throat. “Oh right. Cody, Mr. Burns, this is my mam.” He said. “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Namseon.” She said softly. She shook Cody’s hand first with a smile. “Nice to meet you too.” Cody said. Namseon had long curly hair similar to Seojun’s, but lighter and closer to the wavy side. She had light brown skin and deep brown eyes and sharp ears.</p><p> </p><p>“Seojun’s told me so much about you, I swear he never stops talking.” She said with a cheeky smile. “Maman!” Seojun moaned. “Okay okay, I’ll stop.” She said. She shook Charlie’s hand. “Nice to meet you too Mr. Burns.” She said. “Likewise Mrs. Min. Should we go inside now?” He asked. “Sure.” She said. </p><p> </p><p>Their parents walked ahead and Cody and Seojun stayed close behind. “So do you really talk about me that much?” Cody teased. Seojun snickered and shook his head. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.” He lied. “Mm-hm, sure.” Cody said with a smirk. They went in and sat at a booth across from each other while they waited for food.</p><p> </p><p> “So, Mr. Burns. Do you have any rules regarding curfew and things like that?” Namseon asked, twirling her straw in her strawberry lemonade. “Cody’s curfew is 10pm and he’s supposed to text if he’s going to be late, he texts me where he’s going around the island and that’s about it. Oh, and you can call me Charlie.” He said. “Oh okay that’s nice. For me, as you know I have to know parents if he wants to stay at someone else’s house and-” </p><p> </p><p>Cody stopped listening after that and turned to Seojun who still watched their parents closely. Cody tapped on the table to get his attention. “Hey Seojun?” Seojun turned to Cody with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. “Huh?” He asked. “What are you thinking about?” Cody asked. “Why?” Seojun said. Cody shrugged. “I’ve just got nothing else to ask, plus I’m kinda bored.” He said. Seojun smiled and rolled his eyes. “I’m thinking...that it’s way too quiet in here.” He replied. Cody thought for a moment. “Yeah it is! I feel like we should be whispering now, but it’s probably because we came kind of late.” He said. “Griffin Rock likes to sleep early, huh?” Seojun said. “Sometimes, if some kind of strange emergency isn't happening.” Cody said. Seojun chuckled. “Yeah. Makes me kinda glad I live outside of town. Nothing happens to me, but I get to hear all the details the next day.” He said. “Lucky you, I live close to all the action.” Cody said. “Hey, at least it’ll never be boring.” Seojun pointed out. Cody laughed. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>“-Jun?” Seojun turned back to their parents. “Huh?” He said. “Mr. Burns asked how you’re doing in school Seojun.” Namseon told him. “Oh okay. School’s good, my grades are good, the people are okay, and I just joined the football team-” Cody almost jumped out of his seat. “Wait what? You joined the football team? Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked. Seojun chuckled. “I was trying to earlier today, but you were distracted so I wasn’t able too.” He said, not completely giving away what had actually happened. Cody smiled sheepishly. “Oh right, I forgot. What position are you playing?” He asked. “QB.” He replied. “Noble!” Cody said. Seojun grinned. “Yeah! They had to do a physical on me which was kind of annoying since I don’t really care for being poked and prodded. Also found out I'm 6'5, which means that if anyone asks I can finally say something other than 'I don't know.'” He said. Cody’s eyes opened wide. “No way, that’s so unfair! Pass me some height man!” Cody joked. The whole table cracked up and the pizza finally came, and eating seemed to pass the time more quickly.</p><p> </p><p>After eating it was almost time to go home, but Cody wanted to stay just a little bit longer. “Hey Seojun, wanna get some frozen yogurt?” He asked. Seojun thought with his tongue in his cheek for a second. “Yeah, sure.” Cody led him over to the machines and put as much yogurt as he could in his cup. “You know, you could always go for seconds.” Seojun said slyly. “Not if we leave before I can, might as well get enough for the trip home.” Cody said. “And what if you were to...drop it?” Seojun said, suddenly aiming for his cup. Cody quickly moved it out of the way. “Nope! You’re not getting me that easy!” He said. Seojun laughed mischievously and scooped off the top of his yogurt with his lips. “Guess I’ll have to try harder then.” He said looking Cody straight in the eye. It was then that Cody completely froze, staring at him and turned bright red. His heart raced in his chest and his head spun. He looked into Seojun's big green eyes as he smiled with his fangs and he came to a realization.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh. Oh no.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Frankie was right, he definitely has a crush on Seojun. How did it take him so long to figure that out? Ugh this is ridiculous! </p><p> </p><p>Seojun snapped his fingers close to Cody’s face and he jumped out of his trance. “You good?” Seojun asked. Cody tried his best to appear relatively calm. “Um yeah, I was- I was just thinking of something else.” He said. Technically, that wasn’t a lie. Seojun raised his eyebrow with a confused smile. “Okay?” Cody rolled his eyes at him. “Come on let’s go.”</p><p> </p><p>Charlie stood up from the booth. “Come on Cody, it’s time to go.” He said. “Okay dad.” He turned to Seojun. “See, I told you I’d need enough yogurt for the trip back.” Seojun folded his arms and rolled his eyes with a small smile. “Come on, we're walking with them.” Namseon told Seojun. “Okay.” Seojun said. </p><p> </p><p>It was cool outside and it had become completely dark except for the street lights. The group walked in a swaying huddle down the street. Cody barely paid attention to what they were talking about, he was looking at Seojun who was casually talking to both of their parents. He elbowed him lightly and Cody turned towards him looking surprised. “You hear that Cody? Mam says I can come over sometime.” Cody’s heart raced again and he smiled up at Seojun. "Cool. Could I come over to your place?” Seojun looked at Namseon and Charlie for confirmation. “If that’s okay with Mrs. Min.” He said. “Sure, we’d love to have you kiddo.” She confirmed. Seojun smiled brightly and Cody couldn’t help but smile with him. </p><p> </p><p>When they reached the firehouse Cody gave him a side hug. “See you tomorrow.” He said. “Yeah. Oh! I forgot, we got a game this friday. Think you can make it out?” Seojun asked. “Yeah sure, wouldn’t miss it.” Cody replied. “Cool.” Seojun said. “It was nice to meet you two, Seojun and I have gotta get going now, but I hope to see you again sometime.” Namseon said. “Same here.” Charlie replied. “Bye Seojun.” Cody said, waving from the steps. Seojun waved and turned on his heels, walking down the street.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as Cody got into his house he ran up to his room and jumped onto his bed, landing on his back. He covered his face with his hands and slid down the side of the bed. Why did Frankie have to be right?</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile Seojun and Namseon walked home down the street. “You said you think he saw that vision you had the other night?” She asked. “Definitely. It was the clearest one I’ve ever had and clearer ones like that usually only happen when I make contact with someone else.” Seojun said. “It could just be that you’re getting stronger, but it is possible that he could’ve seen it. He just seems like your run of the mill human though, but he’s a nice kid I guess.” She said. “You could test it out another time.” Seojun thought for a moment. “I don’t know about that mam. That could be dangerous.” He said. “Maybe, but it's definitely worth a try." She said. Seojun nodded and looked ahead of him. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Earth life is so weird.</em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Game time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm no sports fan, but you can't say I didn't try. ☺️</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On Tuesday, Cody and Frankie were sitting on the bleachers in P.E. class, watching the other half of their classmates play volleyball.</p><p>"Ha! I knew you liked him, I bet at this rate you're probably the last person to know!" She teased him. Cody shot her a look of panic. "Oh shit, do you think he knows?" He asked.</p><p>Frankie thought for a moment and sucked her teeth. "Nah I don't think so." She said. "Are you sure?" Cody asked. "Yeah, he never really says anything to me about you." She said. "Oh…” He paused. “Do you think that maybe he could like me back?" Frankie shrugged. "You'll never know if you don't ask." She said. "But then if he says no that'll be so embarrassing." Cody moaned. "But what if he did like you and you never asked so he moved on?" Frankie said. "Ugh, stop making me think!" Cody said, holding his head in his hands. “It’s so weird, I’ve never liked anyone before. I never thought it’d be so time consuming.” he murmured. Frankie patted him on the back. “You’ll be fine, don’t be dramatic.” She said. “Wow thanks, that’s so helpful Frankie.” Cody replied sarcastically. “Glad I could be of your assistance Cody.” She joked. </p><p> </p><p>After so much talking, the days up until Friday seemed to drag on endlessly. Cody also noticed that Seojun seemed to stare more and was slightly more quiet around him. That was worrying, but he never said anything negative, so it was probably fine. Right?</p><p> </p><p>Friday came and Cody sat in front of his mirror again. School had just ended and the game started as six. In two hours, Cody was gonna go watch the football game. He wasn't much of a football guy, baseball was more his thing so he wasn't sure if he would know what was going on at any point, but he wanted to watch Seojun play so it'd probably be fine.</p><p> </p><p>Was two hours enough to get ready for this? Sure it's just a game, but Seojun had asked him to come. There was no way he was going looking like a bum. </p><p> </p><p>He took a shower and washed his hair twice and spent a lot of time picking out what to wear. The most he'd probably spent ever. God, he's really got it bad huh?</p><p> </p><p>Eventually he settled on something. He wore his hair down with his bangs clipped behind his ears, clear lip gloss that Frankie lent him, and he wore a white sweatshirt with the school's logo on it, loose blue jeans, and white high tops. He put a silver ring on his right ring finger and a silver chain he borrowed from Kade. He smoothed his hair down and checked for wrinkles in his clothes about a million times before Frankie finally knocked on his door.</p><p> </p><p>"Cody come on! We're gonna be late! What are you doing?" She said through the door. Cody rushed and grabbed his things and opened the door. "My bad, I was really distracted. I lost track of time!" He said. Frankie shook her head at him with a knowing smile. "Of course you did." She said. "At least I can tell some of that time went into getting yourself pretty." She said, flicking his forehead. "Ow! Come on Frankie." He said, pressing the inflicted area with his palm. She laughed out loud with her arms folded. "Come on, let's go."</p><p> </p><p>Chase and Charlie drove them to the game and Cody was on the edge of his seat the entire time. "Relax some Cody, you're gonna see the game." Frankie half teased him. "Yeah I know that, which is why I can't relax." He said. "Why don't you try taking some deep breaths Cody? I've heard that works well." Chase suggested. "I'm good Chase, but thanks." Cody replied. "Are you sure?" Charlie asked. "Yeah dad, I'm fine." Cody confirmed nervously.</p><p> </p><p>Cody and Frankie stepped out of the backseat once they reached the school. "Have a good time kids. Call me when the game's over." Charlie said.aid. “Yeah okay, bye dad.” Chase drove off and Frankie and Cody walked onto the football field. Since the other team was only allowed to stay until morning at most, Chief Burns was fine with Griffin Rock hosting games. They didn’t do it often though.</p><p> </p><p>The floodlights were bright and blinding. Cody and Frankie carefully climbed to seats close to the field and Cody started looking for Seojun once his eyes adjusted to the bright lights. After looking all over the field, he was disappointed to find out that the team wasn’t on the field yet.</p><p> </p><p>“You know football, with these games they gotta make an entrance.” Frankie said. “No, I didn’t know that actually.” Cody said. “Ooh. Let’s hope Seojun doesn’t ask you about any of his plays after the game.” Frankie teased. “Shut up.” Cody mumbled. Cody noticed that Frankie was also looking around the field. “You looking for someone?” Cody asked, bumping his shoulder into hers. “No.” She lied. He noticed as she looked over at the cheerleaders that she had also spent some time on her look. She wore her hair in a pineapple on top of her head with two curled stands on each side and her edges laid with a silver clip in her hair. For her clothes she wore a blue jean jacket with a white cropped tank top, a long black pencil skirt, black and white jordan 11’s, and she had on white acrylic nails. “Mmhm, sure Frankie.” Cody teased. “Shut up Cody.” She said as she waved leaning far over the railing. Priscilla, who was stretching not far away, waved back with a smile. Cody looked at her with wide eyes. “Priscilla Pynch!?” Cody exclaimed. “Shh! She’s been really cool this year.” Frankie defended herself. Cody shook his head with a mischievous smile. “And you’ve been spending all this time picking on me, when you’ve got it just as bad.” he said. “At least I don’t turn into a cherry tomato everytime I see her.” Frankie said. “At least I don’t almost break my back waving to him.” He said back. Frankie rolled her eyes with a snort. Then the band began to play, indicating that the game was about to start. </p><p> </p><p>Cody and Frankie sat down on the benches and watched the scene as Mayor Luskey announced the teams. “The Griffin Rock High Falcons!” (The only reason they weren’t the Griffins instead was because that would be way too on the nose.) The team ran in from the locker rooms onto the field. Cody couldn’t tell where he was with his helmet on, but finally found him when he saw his jersey. He was number fifteen and of course his last name was on it. He gave Cody a head nod and Cody smiled back at him. “Cherry tomato.” Frankie sang smugly. “Stop it!” Cody yelped. “And the East High Panthers!” The other team ran in wildy, cheering with the audience. “Who do you think is gonna win?” Frankie asked. “I don’t know, I barely paid any attention to the team.” Frankie rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. “I should’ve expected that.” Seojun called the first play and the game kicked off not knowing what to look for, everything looked like a blur. The play ended with neither team getting a point. “Maybe I should have read up on the rules before this.” Cody realized. “Well it’s too late for that now.”</p><p> </p><p>The first quarter passed by quickly and as soon as it was over, Cody got up to go to the concession stand. “Frankie, do you want anything?” He asked. “Nachos and a Gatorade.” She said. “Okay cool, I’ll be right back.” He jogged over to the stand and got himself a sprite, a hotdog, and cotton candy along with Frankie’s stuff. He came back and the game had already started. “How are we doing?” Cody asked, handing Frankie her things. “Seojun and another quarterback switched out, and we’re behind the other team by five points.” She said,. “Well, we’ve got enough time to catch up.” Cody said casually. “Yeah.” Frankie said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody was more interested in the band and cheerleaders then the actual game, at least he knew what they were doing. Halftime came and the band began to play a lively song. The cheerleaders and the dance team started their routines. “Damn, I should've joined the dance team.” Frankie said. “There’s always next year.” Cody reminded her. The benched football players and some of the audience danced along. Seojun turned around towards Cody and Frankie with a bright smile. He waved and danced with them. Cody giggled and turned bright red. Frankie laughed at the scene and danced with her friends. Soon after, halftime ended and everyone calmed down. The Falcons were now ahead by three points. Cody just cheered when Frankie did since he still wasn’t completely sure what was going on. Seojun watched attentively below them, turning his head slowly with the players. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ugh, he’s so cute!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Fourth quarter finally came and Seojun was back in the game. The two teams were neck and neck. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, waiting to see who would come out on top. Seojun called the play. Cody kept poor track of the ball, but was still tense. Seojun pushed past the defense and ran wildly towards the goal. Cody and Frankie cheered him on as he weaved around members of the other team and finally-</p><p> </p><p>“TOUCHDOWN!” Mayor Luskey shouted! Seojun did a victory dance and his teammates surrounded him excitedly. Cody and Frankie whopped with excitement and the other team recovered from the shock. “That was awesome! Did you see that?” Frankie shouted over the cheers. “Noble!” Cody shouted “I didn’t know he was so fast!” </p><p> </p><p>Not long after, the teams departed and Cody and Frankie threw their trash away. The audience slowly trickled away and Cody and Frankie stayed close by. “Hey.” Priscilla said in passing as she walked to her car. “Hey Priscilla. You did really good tonight.” Frankie said. “I’m the captain, of course I’m good.” She said with a smile. “Come on Priscilla, I still need a good night’s sleep.” Mrs. Luskey said. “I’m coming.” Priscilla said. She gave Frankie a side hug. “See you around Francine.” She said. “Yeah bye!” Frankie yelped awkwardly. Cody chuckled and shook his head once Priscilla was out of earshot. “This is so funny, I never knew you could be so awkward.” Frankie looked at him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. “What?” Cody asked.” She pointed behind him with her head. Cody whipped around and Seojun stood behind him, smiling tiredly. “Heya Cody.” He said, giving him a little wave. His hair was in a messy puff on top of his head, and he wore a grey sweatshirt with black adidas sweatpants, and black slides. As usual also wore his green studs and he had a bag on his shoulder. It was obvious that he had just come back from the showers. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey.” Cody said shakily. “So did you like watching the game?” He asked. “Yeah, you were awesome!” Seojun smiled. “Thanks.” He sighed. “Man I’m so tired, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to go to sleep so bad.” He said. “Well you did outrun everyone else on the field, it’s not that surprising.” Frankie said. “Oh yeah I did.” He yawned. “Think you’ll watch the next game?” He asked. “Sure, I’ll have to read up on some of the rules first though.” Cody said. Seojun laughed. “Okay. I’ll see you later Cody. Bye Frankie.” He said, walking to his car. ‘Bye Seojun!” Cody called after him. “Later.” Frankie said. Seojun waved over his shoulder and got into the car.</p><p> </p><p>Kerchek snickered when he shut the door. “What?” Seojun asked. “You forgot to do the thing Namseon asked about didn’t you?” He asked. Seojun’s eyes went wide from the realization. “Oh man, mam’s gonna kill me.” He said. “Nah, she might not give you crab though.” Kerchek joked. “That’s equal to death!” Seojun complained. Kerchek laughed even harder.. He calmed down not long after and shook his head. “About that, what do you think of that kid anyway?” Kerchek asked. Seojun shrugged. “He’s my friend. Why do you wanna know?” Seojun said. Kerchek shrugged and started the car. “Mm, no reason.” He said. Seojun looked out of the window as they drove and smiled at the thought of Cody's smile as he looked up at him. He shook his head and closed his eyes, listening to the music Kerchek was playing.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Now that we're farther into the story, Seojun's point of view will come in more frequently.</p><p>Also on another note, since it's mentioned in the last chapter, here are the character heights for this.</p><p>Seojun: 6'5<br/>Cody: 5'8<br/>Frankie: 5'7<br/>Priscilla: 5'4</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Seojun's thoughts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Double update today because I had the energy!</p><p>Gaeran toast - korean egg toast, like an egg sandwich</p><p>Vitanya uses both he/him and they/them pronouns</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seojun woke up in the darkness of his room. It was six o’clock, much earlier than he usually woke up. He sat up and almost immediately flinched in pain. He was feeling the burn of yesterday's events, much to his dismay. He stumbled tiredly downstairs and walked into the kitchen. He sighed and looked in the refrigerator. Once he didn’t find anything he wanted he tried to shut the door, only it was stuck. So he tried again, and again, and again.</p><p> </p><p>After the fourth time he was frustrated and he decided to look at what was going on. He peered at the floor and saw Kamina rubbing her head with teary eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry Kamina!” He said as he gently picked her up, bouncing her to console her. She whined and stuck her head in between his neck and shoulder. “Let me have her.” Kerchek said, looking slightly upset. Seojun quickly handed her over. “Sorry.” He said sheepishly. Kerckek sighed loudly. “Don’t worry about it, kids like to get into places where they don’t belong.” He said. “Yeah, okay.” He said. Kerchek sat down at the kitchen table and sat Kamina at her high chair. Seojun found some leftover gaeran toast that his mom had made and sat across the table from Kerchek beside Kamina.</p><p> </p><p>Kerchek was a very hot and cold guy. He was his second oldest brother, but they hardly knew each other. Kerchek was from Atlanta where he lived with his mother and moved in with them shortly after his daughter was born. Some days he’s the cool older brother and other days he’s cold, distant, and angry and he doesn’t want to speak to anyone. He seemed fine today though. </p><p> </p><p>“So Kerry, what do you think of Griffin Rock?” Seojun asked to fill the silence. Kerchek shrugged. “It’s alright, it’s quiet.” Kerchek said. “Did you meet anyone that you like?” He asked. “No not really, I just do my job and go. I’d rather stay at home.” Kerchek responded. “Well that’s no fun! We’re gonna be living here for a while, might as well make something of it.” Seojun suggested. Kerchek shot him a long cold look. “I am gonna make something of it. Money.” He swiftly took Kamina out of her high chair and went upstairs to his room. Seojun took a bite of his gaeran toast. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Yep, he’s cold today.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“What are you thinking about?” His sibling Vitanya sang, suddenly close to his face. Seojun jumped back in surprise and nearly dropped his food. “Tanya! You can’t sneak up on me like that!” He complained. “Oh well, but I just did.” They said smugly. Seojun shook his head and groaned at him. “You’re terrible.” He said to them. He giggled with a big grin. “I’m glad you think so!” They said. He sat down where Kerchek was and poured himself a bowl of cereal. “So, mam told me you have friends now. Way to go! I didn’t expect that from you!” They teased. “Shut up.” Seojun muttered. “She also said that you had a vision with one of them.” He said. “Ugh, she told you?” Seojun groaned. “Well…...not on purpose, I kinda had Vashti wring it out of her.” They admitted. “Of course you did.” Seojun said. “So, what was it like? How far away was it?” He asked curiously. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun sighed. “It was pretty casual, we were definitely close, and it wasn’t that far away, maybe two years at least, three at most.” Seojun explained. “Ooh! Exciting!” They said, rapidly clapping their hands. “Is that enough for you?” Seojun asked. He thought for a moment and shook his head. “Mm, no. I’ve got more questions Ju-Ju.” He said. “Make it quick. I wanna go back to my room.” Seojun said. “What did you think about it?” They asked. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun paused. “I- I don’t really know? I couldn’t really believe it honestly. I’m not sure how that would go. How would he feel knowing that I’m not just from another country, but a whole other galaxy instead? He’d probably hate me and call me a liar. I don’t think I would ever tell him, but if the future’s like that, that either means I’ve told him or I’m still lying. I really hate that because I don't want to get hurt, but I don't want to hurt him either." Seojun poured out. </p><p> </p><p>Vitanya sipped on his Tylak juice with wide eyes and swallowed loudly. He choked and coughed for a few seconds with his hand on his chest. “Wow, um, that’s heavy. Maybe I should’ve let Vileah ask about it or something.” They said, looking regretful. “Wow, thanks Tanya.” Seojun grumbled. The first person he had told that he felt like this was an idiot who can’t handle complex emotions. “Sorry.” Vitanya said sheepishly as Seojun walked away.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun flopped face down on his bed. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>This is bullshit.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He felt like crying and his face was completely burning up, but nothing came out. He turned over on his back and sighed, he knew what it was time to do. He stepped into the bathroom attached to his bedroom and placed a blue compression badge on his left shoulder. He watched as it took effect and took a minute to lay down and let the side effects wear off. After that, now feeling only slightly sick to his stomach he got dressed in a light blue hoodie, dark blue jeans, light blue, socks and black and white tennis shoes. He took his hair out many twists and neatly had it floating loosely on top of his head, he put clear jewel studs in his ears and a silver ring on his right ring finger. He stretched, zipped up his hoodie and walked out of his room.</p><p> </p><p>He trudged downstairs and through the kitchen through the front door. His brother Kyree stood cross legged, leaning on the counter drinking orange juice. “It’s weird seeing you like that man, you look gross.” He said with a wrinkled nose. Seojun turned towards him with a blank look. “At least I’m still taller than you.” He pointed out. “Rude!” Kyree called after him as he closed the door.</p><p> </p><p>He sighed and stepped off of the porch with his hood up and his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Whenever he was upset or stressed out he’d walk around Griffin Rock to relax. The wind on his face felt similar to how it felt back home. Half the time, he’d shut his eyes and imagine the long pink Shinzhou flowers, the bright orange and gold sky with purple clouds, and being able to be completely himself. </p><p> </p><p>He sighed more as he walked, the lump in his throat seemed to only get larger by the second everytime he tried to swallow it down, but he still couldn’t physically express how upset he was. He walked around town aimlessly for a while and somehow found himself at the firehouse. He stood a few feet away. It’d be nice to see Cody, but there was no way he was just gonna drop by someone else’s house unannounced. That would be rude.</p><p> </p><p>He texted Cody quickly and waited silently for him to answer.</p><p> </p><p>/Hey, I’m in the area. Could I come over?</p><p> </p><p>After about five minutes, Cody texted him back</p><p> </p><p>(Su</p><p>(*Sure.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun smiled, put his phone away and walked towards the firehouse.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Vitanya and Kyrie are 17 and 12 respectively.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Sounds like a plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody was busy doing nothing and enjoying his saturday. His family was out working, so he indulged himself in a bowl of cheerios with strawberries and watched tv. While he was watching one of his favorite shows he got a notification on his phone. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Is it dad? Dad always calls at the worst times.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He looked at his phone lazily and flinched in surprise when he realized that it was Seojun texting him. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh shit what is it?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He fumbled his phone for a few seconds before finally catching it and reading the text.</p><p> </p><p>/Hey, I’m in the area. Can I come over?</p><p> </p><p>Cody took a deep breath of panic. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why does he wanna come here? I can’t let him in right now, I'm in weekend mode!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Frantically, Cody ran upstairs to find something “better’ to wear. He pulled on a grey sweatshirt, navy blue sweatpants and grey socks and put his hair in a ponytail. After that he jumped back on his phone and started to text Seojun back. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>No, I gotta erase that. An exclamation point sounds too eager and I don’t wanna look weird.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He started to delete the text, but his thumb slipped and he accidentally sent it instead.</p><p> </p><p>(Su</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Fuck!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>(*Sure.</p><p> </p><p>He facepalmed from the embarrassment and whined, sinking down onto the floor.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh my God! He’s gonna think I’m a fucking idiot now! Oh wait, shit! I gotta let him in!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He ran downstairs, nearly tripping at least three times. He slammed against the front door. He took a deep breath and shook his head to calm himself down. Then he actually opened the door. Seojun stood in front of him. He looked tense and his eyes were swollen and red. Cody was surprised, but tried not to be rude. “Hey Seojun, you okay?” He asked. Seojun nodded. “Yeah, yeah I think so. Can I come in?” He asked. “Yeah sure.” Cody said, opening the door slightly wider. Seojun hopped down the stairs and took his shoes off at the door. He sat down on the chair at the side of the living room in front of the TV and took off his hoodie.</p><p> </p><p>“So, what brings you here?” Cody asked awkwardly. Seojun shrugged. “Just wanted to hang out, is that okay?” He asked. “Yeah sure, that’s fine. What do you wanna do?” Cody asked, sitting on the couch nearby. “We can do whatever, I don’t really care.” Seojun said, leaning forward. “Oh okay, let’s watch a movie!” Cody said. “What movie?” Seojun asked. “Hmm.” Cody thought for a moment. “Have you ever seen ‘Inside Out’?” Cody asked. Seojun shook his head. “Do you wanna watch it?” Cody asked. “What’s it about?” Seojun asked. Cody looked up with his finger on his chin in thought. “Um, kinda like if emotions had emotions?” He explained awkwardly. Seojun blinked and frowned in confusion. “What?” He asked. “Okay, so it’s a movie about this girl who moved to a new town and it shows her feelings in her head as little people that control how she feels. It’s really good.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “Sure, let’s watch it.” He said. “Okay!” Cody said enthusiastically.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun barely reacted to the entire movie. He gave small smiles here and there at jokes and silly things, but he mostly sported a blank face. It was strange to Cody. Though he hadn’t known him that long, as he had gotten closer to him he learned that while he was pretty quiet, he also had a very expressive face that more or less showed what he was thinking. </p><p>
  <em>Should I be worried? Why are his eyes so red? Maybe he’s just tired, I know I am.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody decided not to ask him about it, he didn’t want to pry. He turned to watch the movie instead. It took forever to end, though it probably just felt like more time due to the very awkward atmosphere and lack of snacks. Movies are weird without snacks. He turned to Seojun with a forced smile. “So what did you think?” He asked. Seojun was biting his bottom lip and he was blinking rapidly. “Huh?” He asked, blinking more slowly. Cody let his smile fall and replaced it with a frown of concern. “Are you okay?” He asked hesitantly. Seojun sighed sharply and placed his hands on the side of his face. “Yeah, yeah I’m good.” He mumbled, pulling the corners of his eyes as he rubbed his temples in circles. Cody frowned harder and pressed his lips into a straight line. “Are you sure? You look kinda stressed.” Cody asked, Seojun froze, probably trying to think. “Yeah I-.” His voice broke and he closed his eyes. “I um. I don’t really know, I’m not sure.” He said shakily as tears started to stream down his face.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh primus he’s crying, what am I supposed to do?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked nervously. Seojun sniffed. “Um, there’s not really much I can tell you, but I really just wanna go home.” He croaked. “Oh okay, I could ask your mom to come pick you up if you-” Seojun cut him. “No not that home, my <strong><em>real</em></strong> home.” He clarified. Cody paused. “Oh. You miss Korea?” Cody asked. “...yeah.” He said slowly. “Sorry, I don’t really get it since I’ve only been here my whole life, but if you want to continue I’m listening.” He said. Seojun nodded. “I didn’t want to come here at all, but we had to because of something that happened in our family. I just feel like my entire life just got flipped upside down and since I can’t explain everything I feel like all I can do is lie, and I hate lying because it makes me feel like i can’t be myself.” He said. “You haven’t talked to anyone around you about it?” Cody asked. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun shook his head. “My family prefers to avoid the topic so whenever I feel like things are too much I just go on walks to calm down. It’s how I ended up here” He explained, hugging his knees to his chest. Cody nodded. “I don’t really know what to say to that. I’m sorry you’re feeling homesick.” He paused and fidgeted with his hands, “Do you need a hug?” He said hesitantly. Seojun choked and covered his mouth as he started laughing. He threw his head back and his arms relaxed on the back of the chair. Cody smiled and shook his head. “I’m glad you find my attempts at being nice to be so funny.” He said. Seojun forced himself to stop laughing. “No no, it’s not that. It’s just that sounds real bold of you, since last time I gave you a hug you took off running.” He clarified. Cody put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. “Do you want the hug or not Seojun?” He asked. Seojun chuckled with a big smile. “Bring it in blondie.” He said, holding his arms out. Cody rolled his eyes and joined him on the chair. Seojun rested his head on his shoulder and wrapped his arms around him gently. Cody could feel his body heat and steady heartbeat in his chest. He had a really calming feeling to him.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Cody! I found a phwug!” Seojun called to him from the riverbank he was squatting at. Cody turned around with a confused frown. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A what?” He asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A phwug.” Seojun responded.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A fuck?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A phwug!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A plug?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A PHWUG!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A what?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Seojun gave up with a deep sigh of frustration and scratched his scalp.”The little green things that hop around and make noise.” He explained. Cody smiled mischievously. “A grasshopper?” He joked. Seojun smiled. “Now you know damn well!” He said laughing. “Oh! A frog!” Cody exclaimed, walking over to the bank to stand beside Seojun. Said frog was sitting on a big rock close to the bank, staring at them intensely. “It looks cool.” Cody said. “The animals here never cease to fascinate me.” He said with wonder in his eyes as it hopped away. “Yeah, they’re pretty cool.” He turned his head towards Seojun. “You think you can tell me more about where you’re from?” Cody asked. Seojun nodded. “I’ll tell you on the way home.” He said with a small smile. Seojun stood up from the bank. “Come on, I wanna walk around more.” He said. “Ugh, come on man. We’ve been here a million times.” Cody groaned. Seojun chuckled. “Then we can do it again.” He said. “You and your repetition.” Cody said, shaking his head. “You and your complaining.” Seojun said back, copying his tone. “Tsk!” Cody clicked his tongue. Seojun laughed heartily and put his arms around Cody’s shoulders. “Come on blondie let’s go.” He said. “Don’t call me that Jun.” Cody said, falling into his embrace, holding Seojun’s arm to his shoulder. Seojun only laughed harder.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody’s eyes shot open. <em>Stupid! Now isn’t the time for stupid daydreams! </em></p><p>Though, said “daydream” did give him an idea. “Hey, Seojun?” He asked. “Yeah?” Seojun responded. “If it helps, I could join you when you go on your walks. We don’t have to talk or anything, we could just chill. If you want to, I mean.” Cody suggested. Seojun paused. “Sure.” He said simply. Cody smiled. “Okay, sounds like a plan.” He said gleefully, pulling away from Seojun with his hands on his shoulders. Seojun smiled back and Cody’s heart raced as he looked into his eyes, realizing how close their faces were.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, they heard the sounds of the door unlocking. Flustered, Cody jumped away from Seojun, breaking the hug. Seojun looked confused, until Charlie started talking as he entered the door. “Anybody home?” He asked. “Yeah, Seojun and I are in the living room.” Cody called back to him. Charlie walked into the room casually. “Hey boys.” He said. </p><p>“Hey dad.” Cody said.</p><p>“Hi Mr. Burns,” Seojun replied.</p><p>“What are you guys up too?” He asked. “We just watched ‘Inside Out’.” Cody said. Though that wasn’t a lie, that sure left out a lot of details. “Oh, that’s a good movie. Well, I’ll be upstairs.” He said. “Okay.” Cody replied as he left.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as Charlie was out of the room, Seojun got up from the chair and put his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been out of the house for three hours, it’s about time for me to get going.” He said. “You’ll be okay?” Cody asked. “Yeah, I’m good. For real this time. If that changes I’ll just text you.” He said. “Noble. See you later Seojun.” Cody said. “Yeah. See you around blondie.” He said, giving him finger guns and a wink. “Don’t call me that!” Cody said, his cheeks turning bright red. Seojun snickered and walked out of the room. Cody stood stiffly in the living room until he heard the door close. After that he sighed and untensed his body, slouching in the middle of the room. “Geez.” He murmured. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun walked down the street whistling in the wind, leaning back with his arms crossed behind his head. He smiled and shook his head. “Guess I’ll have a lot of time to tease him.” He thought.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Something's off</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Of course, most of the thoughts are in italics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody hopped into his bed somewhere around 10:30 at night. He sighed and began to relax, until his mind flashed to the events from earlier that day. He covered his eyes with his palms and cringed. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Stupid Seojun! What’d he have to be so cute for?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He shook his head rapidly at that thought and tried to stop thinking about this so that he could sleep, but instead his head filled with questions and other thoughts. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why’d he pause for so long when I asked him about his home? Was he just getting his thoughts together or was there something else to it? Why’d he start calling me blondie right after that daydream I had? And why did that only happen after I hugged him? Wait a minute, those little things have happened twice now and both times, he’s done something from it. Does that mean something? Can he read my mind?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He uncovered his eyes and shook his head with a chuckle after that last thought. “Okay that’s ridiculous!” He thought. There was no way that could happen, that was just silly! Or was it? Weird things happen on this crazy island all the time.</p><p> </p><p>“No way, that’s still so stupid! It wouldn’t make any sense! And-” Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted. His body froze up and his brain became foggy until he saw an image in his head.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Two people stood in a field of tall pink flowers that blew in the wind under a marigold sky with swirling peach colored clouds. Their backs were turned to Cody’s view, and they weren’t as clear as the landscape was, but he could make out some things about them. One was absurdly tall with curly hair and wore an open white long sleeve robe that reached just above his ankles. He had his hands in the pockets of his white pants and wore gold sandals. The shorter of the two had a black parasol and he held onto it above his head as his long hair floated gently in the wind. He wore an open white robe as well that hung off of his shoulders with the back at his elbows with a spaghetti strap tank top underneath.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>The taller of the two sighed deeply. “You know, despite seeing it so many years ago, I never thought I’d get to bring you here.” He said. The shorter one turned his head towards him. “Why?” He asked. “It hasn’t been this peaceful here in a long time, I hadn’t expected it to be safe by now. Visions can don’t always come true, especially unclear ones that are so far away like this one was.” He explained. His companion nodded. “Well, at least we’re here now.” He said. He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He replied, patting the shorter one on the back.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Slowly, the vision started to become more blurry and muffled. Black holes formed in the image and slowly spread until Cody shot up into a sitting position, panting in a cold sweat. He swallowed hard and pressed his hand over his heart. “What the hell was that?” He thought. Before he had time to process that, he heard a knock on his door.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah?” He said shakily.</p><p>“Dad wants us to come down to the bunker.” Dani said.</p><p>Cody nodded automatically as if she could see him through the door. “Okay, tell him I’ll be down in a minute.” He said.</p><p>“Okay.” Dani replied. He waited until he heard her footsteps fade completely. He flopped back onto his bed and groaned. “Why do I have to go now? I wanna go to sleep!” He thought. Eventually he rolled out of bed and trudged downstairs to the bunker.</p><p> </p><p>“They’ve been here for over a month now, it’s weird only pretending around them!” Blades said. </p><p>“I know, but we have to be careful. We can’t risk them finding out before we think they’re ready.” Dani said.</p><p>“I still don’t like it though.” Heatwave said. </p><p>“Tch! You’ll be fine! You hid being aliens from the whole island for like three years! You can definitely hold on for a little bit longer.” Kade insisted. Heatwave groaned and rolled his eyes.</p><p>“What’s going on guys?” Cody asked as he walked down the stairs. The others stayed silent and waited for Charlie to bring him up to speed. </p><p> </p><p>“Over the next month we’ll be getting to know the Min family on a more personal level over dinner. The bots are going to listen in if they can’t fit in the room. After that we are going to reveal to them that the bots are aliens sometime in mid November.” He explained briefly. </p><p>“That’s soon. What are we going to do if they don’t take it well?” Cody asked. </p><p>“We’re not completely sure yet, but we’ll figure it out.” Graham said quickly. Cody nodded, but he could tell by the thick tension in the room that they were lying. “Okay, cool.” He said softly. “Is that it?” He asked. “Yep, that’s all for now. Good night Cody.” Charlie said. “Yeah, goodnight guys.” He muttered.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as Cody left, Dani elbowed Graham in his arm. “Ow!” He yelped. “Why did you say it like that? Now he’s gonna think something is up!” She scolded him. “It’s not like he’d be wrong.” Blades said. “Yeah, but he doesn’t need to know that.” Dani said. “Cody’s very perceptive though, remember how quickly he found out about us? It's likely he’d find out soon anyway.” Boulder pointed out. Kade folded his arms and gritted his teeth. “I don’t want to be the one that has to tell him what could happen to his friend. They’re...close.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>He thought back to earlier that day. He had decided to come in through the back door because it was closer than the front. When he walked into the living room he was expecting to maybe see Cody eating on the couch. Instead he saw Cody and Seojun hugging on the chair. He felt so awkward about seeing that that he just left the house and decided to drive around until he saw Charlie’s car in the driveway. Sure friends hug and stuff, but that was way too close to be just a friendly hug in his opinion. Were they together? It’d make sense, he’d never seen Cody work that hard on his appearance just to go to school and sometimes he’d hear him up late laughing at something in his room. But that could be that he's just growing up or watching something on his phone. He wanted to ask Cody about it, but he didn’t want to pry or embarrass his little brother. He shook himself out of his thoughts and went back to listening to the conversation.</p><p> </p><p>“This sucks. It’s not like it's their fault, Mayor Luskey was the one that let them in without any thought. They’re their own people with their own lives. Anyone would probably freak about living so close to something unfamiliar. I know we sure did.” Dani said solemnly. Charlie pressed his hand on his forehead. “I know I know, but we have to protect ourselves and the island. That’s our first priority right now.” Charlie said. Chase sighed. “But still, I would prefer to use ethical methods. I wouldn't want to hurt any humans.” He said. “I know I don’t want to either Chase, but if push comes to shove we might have to.” Charlie replied. </p><p> </p><p>Cody jumped onto his bed and snuggled under the covers. He could tell something was going on. He wasn’t sure what his family was planning, but he knew if things didn't turn out "right", it wouldn't be good. He felt conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to protect the bots and his family but he also didn’t want anything bad to happen to Seojun or his family. No matter how much he rolled around, he just couldn’t get to sleep. He picked up his phone and sighed tiredly, it was 11:23 now and he was sure he was going to get in trouble for this, but at the moment he really didn’t care.</p><p> </p><p>(Hey Seojun. Are you up?</p><p> </p><p>/I am now. :)</p><p>/What do you want?</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Sneaking out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts in italics</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After turning off the cameras that would point to his path and checking his surroundings, Cody took the ropes that Dani used for rock climbing to slowly climb out of his bedroom window and scale the wall of the firehouse. He jumped down and rubbed his sore hands against each other. He turned around unsuspectingly and jumped in surprise when he saw Seojun standing right there in front of him.</p><p> </p><p>He swiftly covered his mouth so that he wouldn’t scream and looked around to see if anyone in his house had woken up.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you doing? You scared the shit out of me!” Cody whispered harshly. Seojun tilted his head, looking confused. “You told me to be quiet though.” He said softly. “Yeah, but you could’ve given some kind of indication that you were there!” Cody said. “Oh. My bad.” Seojun murmured. “Don’t worry about it, let’s just go before anyone sees us.” Cody replied, pulling Seojun by his hand. </p><p> </p><p>“Where are we going?” Seojun asked. “You’re holding my hand too tight.” He added. They had been walking for a while now and Cody hadn’t slowed down once. “Oh, sorry about that.” He said absentmindedly, loosening his grip on Seojun’s hand. “So are you gonna answer my question Cody?” He asked. “Just a second, we’ll be there soon.” Cody said, pushing loose branches out of his way. “You said that five minutes ago though. Is this a plot to murder me?” He joked. Cody chortled, breaking out of his concentrated state. “No, I’m not. Sorry, I just had a rough night, I’m kinda stuck in my own head right now.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked concerned. “Huh? What's going on?” He asked. Cody paused. He couldn’t tell him anything about this, it could put all of them in jeopardy. So instead of telling him, he lied. “Nothing much, just a classic case of overthinking. You know?” He said. “I’m fine now, I just wanted to get out of the house since I couldn’t get to sleep.” Seojun nodded. “Yeah I get it. Sometimes it gets really stuffy at my place.” He said. “Because of all the people?” Cody jabbed lightly. Seojun rolled his eyes. “Sometimes.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, we’re here.” Cody said, pushing through some reeds. Seojun looked around at the scene with wide eyes. “Wow, I’ve never been here before.” He said. Far in the middle of the forest nearby Mrs. Neederlander’s other house was a mid-sized pond that was fed by a stream. The water was bright blue and shone since it reflected the moonlight. Lily Pads with pink and white flowers floated on top and frogs croaked nearby. </p><p> </p><p>“Probably because you'd get lost before you found this place.” Cody chuckled. Seojun sucked his teeth. “Hey…” He said, exaggerating an expression of offense. Cody rolled his eyes and took off his shoes to sit with his feet in the water. “I’m surprised you didn’t insist on swimming.” Seojun said, sitting beside him. “Nah, I didn’t feel like doing all that tonight.” He said. “But you did feel like hiking for fifteen minutes.” Seojun teased. Cody jokingly smacked his shoulder with the back of his hand. “Shut up! I don’t have to explain my logic to you.” He said. Seojun burst out laughing. “Okay okay!” He said.</p><p> </p><p>They sat quietly for a few moments, listening to the sounds of the night before Seojun spoke again. “So, what made you decide to come here.” He asked. “I just like coming here or going to the beach. It’s relaxing being by the water.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “Back home, I used to walk through the flower fields nearby. They were always beautiful until the winter. In the summertime they were tall and bright pink and that's when my entire family would come and eat in the fields by the ocean.” He said. “I miss that, we haven't gotten to do that in a while.” Cody was slightly surprised but listened closely, this was the most he had ever talked about his home since he’d met him.</p><p> </p><p>“That sounds really nice.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “Yeah it really was.” He said, looking out at the lake. “Can you tell me more?” Cody asked curiously. Seojun smiled. “Sure I guess. In the spring it got foggy really often but only above ground and around the town, so you could see through the area just not anything past it.” He said passionately. “And the sunsets there were the prettiest thing I’d ever seen, though my little brother used to insist that the sky looked like pee.” He added with disgust at the last memory. </p><p> </p><p>Cody smiled and thought back to that odd dream he had had just a couple of hours before. The yellow sunset and the pink flowers sounded just like the ones that he had seen. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Am I going insane? Could that really be real? The people in it said that it was a vision, does that mean something?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Talking about it like it’s gone forever is kind of strange.” Seojun said, shifting his seating position. His hand landed over Cody’s and he kept talking without noticing. “Why would it be gone forever?” Cody asked, turning to Seojun. Seojun looked at him with big bright eyes. “Uh-” He paused and completely froze for a moment. Cody frowned with concern and moved his hand to tap him. “Seojun?” He asked. Seojun blinked rapidly. “Sorry, lost my train of thought.” He said. As he spoke his eyes flashed a bright glowing green so fast that if he blinked he would have missed it. He leaned back a little in surprise. Seojun didn’t seem to notice. He started to get up and motioned for Cody to come with him.</p><p> </p><p>“We should probably get going, it’s getting pretty late.” he said. Cody stood up and looked at his phone, it was 1:13 in the morning. “Yeah you’re right.” He said, yawning as soon as he realized it. Seojun yawned right after him. “Really, you had to make me catch it too?” He joked. Cody snickered. “I couldn’t resist.” he replied mischievously.</p><p> </p><p>They walked back quietly and they made it back across the street from Cody’s house at 1:40. “You’ll be fine getting back?” Cody asked. Seojun nodded. “I’ve walked around here at worse times.” Seojun said. “Maybe you should make sure someone knows where you’re going if you’re walking around so late. You never know what could happen.” Cody suggested. “Yeah, I guess you're right.” He said. He patted Cody lightly on the back and turned on his heels. “See you later Cody.” He said. Cody put his hand over his shoulder and smiled a little. ‘Yeah, bye Seojun.” He said, waving with his other hand. Seojun waved over his shoulder and walked away. </p><p> </p><p>Carefully, Cody climbed back up into his room. He was grinning from ear to ear as he snuck around the house to turn the cameras back on. He and Seojun could really call on each other whenever, meaning that he had at least a little of Seojun's trust. While that was great for him, how would that turn out when they told his family about the bots? He could end up losing that trust and Seojun too. </p><p> </p><p>He crawled back into bed and looked out of his window with sleepy eyes. If only there was some way he could look into the future and know that things would be fine. Then it clicked in his head. The secrecy, the strange description of his homeland that matched that dream from earlier, the sudden arrival, and all the confusion about the world around him. Could Seojun be causing those “dreams”? Was there more to him than just being from South Korea? If any of that was the case then what was going on and why is he here? And what else had Cody missed?</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is what I imagine Seojun would look like, I'm not the most skilled artist so I couldn't get his hair quite right and I can't draw braces, but I tried. Also sorry if the link doesn't work.</p><p>https://twitter.com/Nicki41525752/status/1387107582456864774?s=19</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. What's on your mind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seojun climbed in through his bedroom window and took off his hoodie. He removed the compression patch on his chest and stayed still leaning on the wall while the effects wore off. When he felt fine enough he turned around to get into bed, right now he was exhausted and all he wanted to do was go to sleep, but when he turned around he saw something that nearly made his heart jump out of his chest.</p><p> </p><p>Instead of being met with his neat empty bed, Kerchek was sitting cross legged on top of it, holding Kamina who was wide awake. Seojun froze in place, staring wide eyed at his brother in fear. Kerchek looked at him with a blank face. </p><p> </p><p>“So, where were you?” He asked quietly. Seojun gulped. “I was on a walk.” He said. “At one in the morning?” He asked. Seojun nodded sheepishly. Kerchek sighed deeply. “You were with that human kid weren’t you?” He asked. Seojun nodded again. “Yeah.” Kerchek shook his head and waved rapidly in the air, kind of like he was waving away that topic. “We can talk about that in a minute. Just sit down.” He said.</p><p> </p><p> Seojun sat down next to him nervously. “What do you want Kerchek?” He asked. “I heard what Vitanya said to you earlier.” He said. Seojun looked away from him. “Oh.” He said softly. “I wanted you to tell me about it since you wouldn’t have gotten it all out unless you told Cody.” Kerchek said. Seojun chuckled. “I’m surprised you called him by his name.” He said. “Saying “that human kid” would be too much of a mouthful, and don’t get off topic.” Kerchek replied. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun hesitated. “Why should I tell you anything?” He asked bitterly. “Cuz I’ll actually listen.” Kerchek replied. Seojun thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.” He said. “And don’t cuss while you talk, Mina might start saying stuff she shouldn’t.” Kerchek added. “Okay.” Seojun said again.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun folded his arms over his chest cautiously. “I feel a little better about since I had some time to think, but you’re right I didn’t get it all out.” He sighed. “It's just that I really hate lying all the time. I’ve had to lie about almost everything since I’ve been on this planet. Where I’m from, what my parents do, who I am, even my physical form! I really just don’t feel right about it." He explained. Kerchek nodded to indicate that he was listening. “And, now I’m pretty sure Cody can see the visions that I’ve had recently. I think he knows, but I don't know how much he knows and I don’t want to ask him because I don’t want to put us in danger. But-.” He paused. “But what?” Kerchek asked, shifting Kamina in his lap. “But I want him to trust me.” Seojun finished. Kerchek looked ahead. “I think you should tell him.” He said casually.</p><p> </p><p>“What? That’s crazy! You know how my mam feels about that.” Seojun said. Kerchek nodded. “Yeah I know how Namseon feels, but you have to tell him the truth at some point if you want him to trust you.” Kerchek pointed out. Seojun looked down at his lap. “Yeah I know, but what if he freaks out, or gets upset?” Seojun asked. Kerchek shrugged. “Then that’s his problem or whatever, plus if things go south I’ve got your back.” He told him. Seojun nodded. “Just take your time and you’ll know when you should tell him.” He said. “Yeah okay, I will.” Seojun said. “Just be careful okay? You’re a good kid and I don’t wanna see you get hurt or whatever.” Kerchek said, putting his arm around Seojun's shoulders. “Okay, I’ll be careful.” He replied. Kerchek patted him on the back with a little smile and got up to take Kamina back to bed. “And um, sorry about how I acted earlier I’d had a pretty rough night.” He said. Seojun was surprised, Kerchek rarely apologized for anything. “Yeah sure.” Seojun said Kerchek nodded. “Okay, now go to bed. You still have school later.” He said. “Okay, goodnight Kerry.” Seojun said. “‘Night kid.” Kerchek said, shutting the door.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun sat alone in the dark for a moment and then climbed into his sheets. After all that, he was too tired to think about much and fell asleep almost immediately.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Morning shenanigans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You really just had to leave me alone yesterday? Come on man!” Frankie complained, practically hopping on her toes as she walked next to him. “I’m gonna have to yell at Seojun for this later too!”</p><p> </p><p>Neither Cody or Seojun had ended up going to school on Monday. Cody had woken up at 8 am feeling like a total zombie and decided to fake being sick instead of leaving the house.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Note to self, never go on 1 am walks on school nights ever again.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah sorry Frankie, but I stayed up way too late the other night and I was not about to sit through class half asleep.” He said. “Oh come on! Me and Seojun do it all the time! You could be tired for one day.” Frankie insisted. Cody laughed. “Nah. No way.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun stood at the entrance of the school leaning against the wall, looking at his phone with headphones in his ears. He was wearing a grey jacket over a white shirt, with blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. Frankie smacked Cody on the shoulder with a mischievous smile. “There’s your boyfriend.” She joked. Cody’s cheeks turned bright red and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Shut up Frankie, he might hear you.” He said. “He’s got headphones in though.” Frankie said. “But that doesn’t mean he’s deaf.” Cody said. </p><p> </p><p>Right on time, Seojun looked up from his phone to see them. He sported a bright grin and he took out his headphones and walked over to them. “Hey guys.” He said gleefully. “Hey what’s up?” Cody asked. “Hey dude!” Frankie said. Seojun shrugged. “Eh, not much. I just got here.” He said. “Well lucky you. I can’t believe you just left me in the dust yesterday man!” Frankie said. Seojun looked shocked. “What?” He asked. ‘You didn’t come to school today! And I had to sit alone!” She said. “Oh, sorry.” He said. “That doesn’t sound genuine Seojun.” Frankie said.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun paused and his eyes lit up with mischief. “I didn’t realize how terrible my actions were! I’m deeply sorry Francine! Please forgive me for my heinous crimes!” He said loudly, quickly bowing repeatedly. She jokingly slapped him on the back. “No stop it! You’re embarrassing me!” She said, laughing hysterically with him. Cody smiled and shook his head. “You guys are too much.” He said, pulling them apart and getting in between them. “Now calm down, it’s still only like 8:30.”</p><p> </p><p> Frankie smiled even harder. “You hear that Seojun? He’s trying to silence us!” She joked. Seojun choked and doubled over with his mouth covered. Cody rolled his eyes with a small smile. “Why are you like this Frankie?” He asked. Seojun was laughing uncontrollably behind him. “You’re gonna kill our friend.” He said, pointing to Seojun who was now stumbling, trying to stay still. “You mean your b-” She started. “NOPE! No I do not!” Cody interrupted her. Seojun just laughed harder and was starting to sound like squeaky door hinges. </p><p> </p><p>Frankie laughed and threw her head back with her arms in front of her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t resist!” She said. Cody folded his arms. “Mm-hm, sure you couldn’t.” he leaned closer to her. “By the way, how’s your girlfriend?” He asked. Frankie jumped. “No! Shut up!” She shouted. Cody just laughed, now it was his turn to mess with her. “You have a girlfriend?” Priscilla asked out of nowhere. Frankie whipped around in surprise and Seojun looked up with wide eyes (still laughing.) </p><p> </p><p>Without them noticing through all the laughter, she had walked up behind Frankie. “What? No! Cody’s just messing around.” Frankie sputtered quickly. Priscilla nodded, taking a bite out of a sugar cookie. “Oh okay. See you guys later.” She said, walking away with a lazy wave. “Yeah, later Priscilla.” Frankie said. </p><p> </p><p>As soon as Priscilla walked a few feet away, Cody turned back to Frankie with a mischievous smirk. “You evil little goblin.” Frankie said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t resist.” Cody said. “Hey!” Frankie shouted. Seojun by now was wheezing with his head between his knees. “Okay, okay we gotta stop.” Cody said. “Please!” Seojun wheezed, standing with his hands on his knees. “Yeah, plus the bells gonna ring in ten minutes, we should probably head in now.” Frankie said. Seojun had mostly recovered now and stood up. “Yeah, let’s go.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>They started walking into the school together just casually talking and were about to separate to go to their classes when Seojun suddenly snickered. That caused Frankie to start laughing too. Cody spluttered. “Really Seojun?” He said. Seojun smiled sheepishly. "I’m sorry I couldn't help it.” He said. Cody held up his hand in exasperation and separated himself from the group. “I’m out of here. Bye guys.” Cody said, walking away from them. “See you later guys.” Frankie said. “Yeah, bye.” Seojun said, still trying not to laugh.</p><p> </p><p>Cody sighed and shook his head. He had gotten so wrapped up in his friend’s silliness that he forgot to look for any signs that Seojun had more to him than he thought. Though honestly, that was fine for now. At least he knew they could have a good time together. </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Looking for signs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Publishing a little later than I wanted to because my sister hid the computer.</p><p>And of course, thoughts are in italics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Over the next week, Cody made it his mission to try to figure Seojun out. He sat next to Seojun like usual at the end of the day, and stole glances at him.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun seemed pretty normal. He was just a chill guy with a nice, but kind of awkward smile.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ugh, this sucks. If he really is up to something, he's way better at hiding it than the bots were. I wanna ask him, but what if he actually isn't doing anything and he thinks I'm weird for asking.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Okay now I'm just overthinking this. I'm just gonna shut up. Wait, thoughts never actually shut up.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun smacked a pencil against Cody's desk, and he jumped in surprise. Seojun chuckled. "You okay over there?" He asked. Cody nodded. "Um yeah, just thinking." He said. "About what?" Seojun asked curiously. "Nothing much." Cody replied. Seojun smirked and folded his arms over his chest, sliding back into his desk. "Okay, keep your secrets." He joked.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em><strong>I'm</strong> the one with secrets? Oh yeah I am, but that's besides the point.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Oh what, I can't have anything to myself too?" Cody asked. Seojun froze for a moment and then tilted his head in confusion. "What?" He asked. Cody shrugged. "I'm just saying, everybody has their secrets Seojun. " He replied slyly. Seojun chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Yeah I guess." He scratched at his scalp and shifted in his seat.</p><p> </p><p>Cody squinted. <em>Yeah, something's definitely up.</em></p><p> </p><p>Seojun on the other hand was just even more confused. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Is he playing with me? Is he trying to tell me something? Or is he just saying stuff? Did I get exposed?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>During a break in English class on Wednesday, Cody took another opportunity to try and get something out of him.</p><p> </p><p>He tapped on his desk with his fingertips. Seojun looked up from his work attentively. "Hm?" He hummed.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey Seojun?" Cody asked. </p><p> </p><p>"Yeah?" He replied.</p><p> </p><p>"Do you think aliens exist?" He asked.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun paused to think for a moment. "Yeah probably, the universe is pretty huge after all." He said.</p><p> </p><p>“What would you think if you found out someone that lived here was an alien?” Cody asked.</p><p>Seojun tried to be serious, but ended up choking and snickering instead. </p><p> </p><p>“What? Why are you laughing?” Cody asked, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair. Seojun smiled brightly and shook his head. “Sorry it’s just like...like...why are you asking me this? Like where is this coming from?” He asked through laughter.</p><p>Cody shrugged. “I dunno, I was just curious.” He lied. “Why do you want to know what I think about aliens out of nowhere?” He asked. “I just said I was just curious.” Cody replied. Seojun held his hands up in defense with a crooked smile. “Okay okay I get it, don’t get all defensive on me.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody rolled his eyes at him. “Why are you like this?” He asked. Seojun shrugged. “It’s entertaining.” He said slyly. “Of course you’d say that.” Cody said with exasperation. Seojun smirked. “What, is that a bad thing?” He asked. “That depends.” Cody replied. “Depends on what?” Seojun asked. Cody shrugged. “I don’t know it just does.” Cody said. Seojun chuckled. “Okay, so it’s like that huh?” He said. “I guess it is.” Cody replied. “Guys, remember to actually do your work.” Mr. Glendale said as he walked by. Cody and Seojun gave each other sheepish looks, chuckled and went back to work.</p><p> </p><p>Though Cody did enjoy casual conversation, it was a little disappointing that he was no closer to seeing what was up with Seojun. He didn’t even get an answer. Should he press harder? But that might not be good. What if Seojun thought he was weird or he felt uncomfortable by it? He could ask him directly, but that could get ugly. Being careful is hard.</p><p> </p><p>On Thursday he watched Seojun closely on the way into school. He was mostly regular. There was no bounce in his step, he just seemed to glide instead. If he wasn’t talking his eyes were always forward and he stood tall. Nothing really suspicious about that.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What questions could I ask that could be useful to knowing what’s going on?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Hey Seojun?” He asked. “Yeah?” Seojun replied, not looking at him. “Do you ever see things?” He asked. Seojun looked at him through the corner of his eye. “What kinds of things?” He asked. “Like sometimes I have funny dreams that look like the future. I don’t know why, it’s kinda scary.” Cody said, playing dumb.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun’s eyes went the widest he had ever seen them go, but only for an instant. He quickly hid his reaction. “Oh, that’s kinda strange. A little like deja vu.” He commented. “Yeah, kind of I guess.” Cody agreed. Seojun nodded curtly. “Yeah. Well, I gotta get on to class. I'll see you later Cody.” he said, quickly giving him a small wave. “Yeah, bye.” Cody replied quietly with a short wave back. Seojun rushed off into the crowded hallway without changing his pace for a moment and that just confirmed Cody’s suspicions. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>He definitely knows something about this.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why did he rush off like that though? Is that bad? I don’t understand what’s going on. It’d be really helpful if he just talked to me about it!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>But you know what? It’s fine. Whatever’s going on is his business I guess, it could be complicated. Whatever it is, I’ll just let him tell me when he wants. I don’t like stressing over it.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>But I would really like to know what’s happening to me.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody stood in the hallway for a moment while he thought, he didn't feel like doing anything anymore. Maybe it was to protect himself, but why couldn't he know too?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Seojun felt panicked as he rushed through the hallways. He could barely see where he was going due to how terrible he felt. “Hey! Watch it man!” Another guy said after they bumped shoulders. “Sorry.” Seojun mumbled.</p><p> </p><p>He ducked into the bathroom and found a stall to hide in. He leaned against the wall, panting with his head in his hands, trying to process what had just happened.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>So he’s definitely seen them, but why? He’s a human, this shouldn’t be happening. Is he trying to get something out of me? This is making me upset, I don’t wanna think about this anymore. I can’t tell him now, it’s too soon. What if he doesn’t take it well? My family might have to relocate to a whole different planet, and I can’t let that happen. They’ve been through too much for me to risk it.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>After missing his whole first period class. He snuck back out of the bathroom during the second bell. Seojun didn’t concentrate that well for the rest of the day. His head was bouncing back and forth between ideas and he just couldn’t handle it. Maybe he could ask Vashti to help him out later, but for now he just had to get through the day.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Earlyween</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts in italics</p><p>Kyree is 12 and Jiwoo is 13, Alena is 6.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the next week, Cody acted like nothing had happened. Though he liked being around Seojun, whatever Seojun wasn’t telling him was definitely starting to put a damper on their friendship. Both of them could tell, but they weren’t going to talk about it yet.</p><p> </p><p>In the afternoon during Biology the end of the day announcements from the class president came on. To Cody it was just “Blah blah blah.” until she said. “And the Earlyween dance is next saturday the thirtieth, so be sure to show up in your best costumes and get ready for a night on the dance floor.” </p><p> </p><p>Now Cody was excited, he always looked forward to Earlyween, and now he could finally go to the dance too! All of his siblings (even Graham) had good stories from their highschool dances, and now it was his turn to make one too! </p><p> </p><p>Without thinking, he turned and tapped Seojun on the shoulder. “Hey Seojun, are you going to the Earlyween dance?” Cody asked. Seojun looked confused for a moment, until he realized Cody was actually talking to him. </p><p> </p><p>“Me? Oh. I don’t know. I’m not really sure about it.” He said. “How come?” Cody asked curiously. “Well for starters, I don't even know what Earlyween is.” Seojun said. ‘How- Oh yeah! I forget that’s really only a Griffin Rock thing.” Cody said. “So what is it?” Seojun asked. </p><p> </p><p>“Okay so, it gets really cold around here and by the time that Halloween actually comes around it’s way too cold for all the festivities so we celebrate it early when it’s warm so we don’t freeze in our costumes. So we call it Earlyween.” Cody explained. Seojun nodded. "Oh, that makes sense I guess.” He said. “So are you gonna go?” Cody asked. Seojun shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought of a costume yet.” He said. “Me and Frankie are going, you should come along. It’ll be fun.” Cody said. “Okay, I’ll think about it.” Seojun said, turning back to his work.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun had also been more quiet recently. Though he was usually pretty quiet, he had a different energy. He was more stiff, closed off and always lost in his own thoughts. He still talked to him though, so at least that was almost the same.</p><p> </p><p>"I'll see you later Cody." Seojun said. "Bye." Cody replied as he walked out of the door with Frankie.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as they were gone, Seojun immediately rushed home from school. He ran wildly through the woods and slammed the gate to his yard, ignoring his mother’s yelling. He jumped over a chair and scaled the ladder up to the tree house where his brother and sister Kyree and Jiwoo sat playing uno. </p><p> </p><p>He slammed his backpack down on the floor, pulled off his compression patch and leaned against the wall. Kyree raised his eyebrow at him. “Um, what’s this about? Coming in all crazy like something’s chasing you?” He said.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, what are you doing Ju?” Jiwoo asked. “Uno, out!” Kyree shouted. “Fuck!” Jiwoo yelled, slamming down all twenty-two of her cards. "How do you lose so bad with only two players?" Seojun laughed. "Shut up!" Jiwoo said, throwing a handful of cards at him. Kyree laughed at her as Seojun shielded his face, though he quickly got back on track once he caught his breath. “But, anyway. Why did you run up on us like that?” He asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay so you guys know Halloween right?” Seojun asked. Kyree and Jiwoo slowly gave each other a “wtf” look and turned back to him. “Yeah?” They both said. “So over here they do that thing, like a month early and I’m not prepared at all!” He said. Kyree shrugged. “Who cares? The whole holiday’s just a big costume party.” He said. Seojun scratched his scalp and folded his lips into his mouth. “Well, um.” He murmured. Kyree jerked his head and rolled his eyes. “Oh God, is it about that one human you’re always going on about?” He groaned. Jiwoo shook her head. “You know it is, look at his face.” She said. Seojun then responded by making a face at them like something stank. </p><p> </p><p>“Why do you always have to bring that up Ky?” He asked. Kyree took a bite of his slim jim and hummed “I don’t know.” Seojun sighed. “You are very unhelpful.” He said. “So what are you unprepared for?” Jiwoo asked as she passed him his uno cards. “The school’s having an “Earlyween” dance. I want to go too, but I don’t really have ideas for a costume.” He said. Jiwoo raised her eyebrow at him this time. “That’s it?” She said. “Yes that’s it!” Seojun said in frustration. “Well I got nothing.” Kyree said with a shrug. “I can get back to you in like two days.” Jiwoo said. </p><p> </p><p>“You could go as Clark Kent, it’d be fitting.” Alena said. Kyree and Jiwoo whipped their heads around towards the back of the treehouse. One of their little sister's was sitting on the rig behind them, chewing on some bubble gum. “What the hell are you doing here?” Kyree asked. “Get out.” Jiwoo said. “Aww.” Alena whined. She sauntered away from them and climbed out of the window and down the wall of the treehouse. She jumped the ground and scampered off. “Thanks Alena!” Seojun called after her as she ran away. “You’re welcome!” She called back with a smile. Seojun went back to his spot and looked at his siblings. “Now, what’s a Clark Kent?” He asked.</p><p> </p><p>Cody sat in front of his mirror brushing his hair. It was six at night and it was almost time to go. He was going as Marty McFly from back to the future. He honestly hated the vest, but the costume looked plain without it. </p><p>Was it hypocritical of him to be upset with Seojun? It's not like he'd been completely truthful either, but at least what he wasn't telling him wasn't physically effecting Seojun. That was a whole different story.</p><p>He jumped and was distracted from his thoughts when he heard his door pop open. “Are you sure you don’t wanna go trick or treating with us?” Dani asked, peeking her head into his room. “Yeah I’m sure. I’m going to the dance." He said. “Okay, I’ll try and save you something if Kade doesn’t shove it all in his mouth.” She said. “Thanks Dani.” Cody replied.</p><p> </p><p>The horn on Doc’s car honked and Cody rushed out of the house. Frankie stuck her head out of the window and waved at him. She was dressed as Musa from Winx Club. “Hey Cody!” She said. “Hey!” Cody replied cheerfully. He slid into the seat next to her and noticed someone else was there. “Oh right sorry, I forgot to mention that Priscilla’s riding with us.” She said. “Hey.” Priscilla said softly. “Hey.” Cody said awkwardly back. She was dressed as Regina George from mean girls, blonde wig and all.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m so excited! It’s our first highschool dance.” Frankie squealed. “I don’t think it’ll be that different from the middle school stuff.” Cody said. “You don’t know that, just let me be excited!” Frankie said. “Francine this is just Earlyween, it's prom and homecoming that you get excited for.” Priscilla said. “You guys are no fun.” Frankie pouted. Cody giggled. “Sorry.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>They drove mostly in quiet excitement as Doc rambled about a story from his highschool days when Woodrow apparently spiked the punch. Charlie had never told him that one. Cody barely listened and stared out of the window, thinking of nothing in particular. </p><p> </p><p>“Cody? Cody!” Frankie said. “Huh?” Cody asked. “Are you thinking about someone?” She asked slyly with a smirk. Cody’s cheeks turned bright red. “No.” He said. “You’re blushing!” She sang, poking his cheek. “What’s going on?” Priscilla asked. Frankie whispered something in her ear and she looked at Cody with wide eyes. “Wait for real?” She asked. “Yeah.” Cody said shyly. “Oh he’s in my math class, he’s pretty chill.” She said. “Yeah.” Cody replied. “He’s pretty cute too.” She said with a smirk. </p><p> </p><p>Cody looked at Frankie with disappointment. “Why’d you have to tell her?” He asked. She chuckled. “Sorry.” She said. “Now both of you are gonna pick on me about it.” He complained. “If you weren’t so awkward it wouldn’t be so easy.” Priscilla said. “Well I can’t help that!” He said. “Well that’s too bad.” She said with a smirk. “You guys are terrible friends.” Cody mumbled. “Glad you think so.” Frankie teased.</p><p> </p><p>They pulled up to the school. At lot of cars were also dropping off people. Doc dropped them off at the curb nearby.</p><p> </p><p>“Goodbye kids, Cody’s father will pick you up at nine.” He said as they got out of the car. “Bye daddy!” Frankie said, giving him a hug through the car window. “See you later Mr. Greene.” Cody said. “Bye.” Priscilla replied. Doc drove quickly peeled off, kicking up dust. They shielded their faces and backed up from the sidewalk. “Ugh. I hate it when he does that.” Frankie grumbled. "Come on, let’s go inside.” Priscilla said. </p><p> </p><p>The school cafeteria had been cleared out to make room and loud music blasted through it. The room was full of green, orange, black, and purple decorations, a black disco ball spun as it hung from the ceiling and the lights were dimmed. It was crowded and lots of people were standing around talking, some were dancing already too. “Cool.” Cody murmured. </p><p> </p><p>They walked in together pretty awkwardly, but quickly got used to the noisy area. Cody looked around, but couldn’t see Seojun anywhere. It’s fine, it was pretty dark, so that’s not really surprising.</p><p> </p><p>He moved over to the food table and grabbed himself some pizza. He sat at the booth near the dance floor as Frankie and Priscilla talked nearby. He was annoyed that he was looking for him. He wanted to be mad at Seojun and have a fun night without him, but as soon as he noticed he wasn’t there he was disappointed. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Stupid Seojun.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He finished off his Caprisun and Frankie and Priscilla ran up to him. Frankie grabbed his wrist with her hands. “Come on get up, did you just come here just to sit around?” She asked over the music. “Maybe I did. What about it?” He said sarcastically. Priscilla rolled her eyes at him and started pushing his back. “Come on, let’s go. Your sad face is killing the vibes.” She said dryly. Cody tried to resist, but the combined force of the two girls quickly lifted him out of his seat. “Okay okay, I’m up guys!” He exclaimed. They acted like they hadn’t heard him and pulled him onto the dance floor. </p><p> </p><p>The three of them danced goofily to the next few songs. Cody and Frankie ran circles around Priscilla who looked at them in disgust. Eventually, she decided to spin while they ran. “I always knew I was a star, but I didn’t know I had orbiters too.” She joked. Cody and Frankie laughed hysterically and had to keep themselves from collapsing on her. “Gross, get off me.” She said through a bright smile. She helped Frankie up though.</p><p> </p><p>After all that Cody decided to go to the punch bowl during a slow song. He poured himself some pink lemonade. He took a sip as he was about it to walk away and made a face. It was a little too sweet, but it was whatever.</p><p> </p><p>“Who are you supposed to be Cody?”</p><p> </p><p>Cody jumped in surprise and bumped into him, dropping his drink. Seojun swiftly caught it before it fell and gave it to him with an awkward smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>He was dressed as Clark Kent, like his little sister had suggested. His hair was slicked back except for a curl in the front, he wore fake glasses, a black tie, black dress pants, and a white button up that was open revealing Superman’s classic logo on a blue shirt.</p><p> </p><p>Cody took his drink back and swallowed hard. “Hey.” He said in a breathy voice. “Hey.” Seojun said awkwardly back. They stood there silently avoiding each other’s eyes for a moment. “Do you- do you wanna dance?” He asked, pointing at the dance floor with his thumb. Cody thought for a moment and looked back up to him. He looked nervous and he was slightly hunched over. Cody sighed deeply. “Yeah, sure.” He replied. “Okay.” Seojun said. </p><p> </p><p>He held out his hand and Cody reluctantly took it. They walked awkwardly over to the dance floor without looking at each other. Seojun put his other hand on Cody’s shoulder. They swayed slowly to the music. He looked up at seojun, who shyly looked away. His hands were shaky, but at least he didn’t step on his toes. Cody couldn’t help but smile and his face turned bright red again.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why does this always happen to me?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun smiled back at him and Cody almost forgot about why they had been so awkward in the first place. Until everything in their surroundings went black. It was just the two of them. His vision was full of holes and the world around him spun violently. He could still hear what was going on.</p><p> </p><p>“Your dancing’s gotten better.” Seojun said. “Shut up.” Said a familiar voice. Seojun chuckled. “What, you’re not gonna fall out on me this time are you?” He asked. “You know that wasn’t my fault.” Seojun paused. “Right…” He said sarcastically. “You really don’t know how to be honest do you?” “Nope.”</p><p> </p><p>“...!”</p><p>“-dy!”</p><p>“Cody!”</p><p> </p><p>Cody gasped and was sucked back into reality. Seojun was shaking his shoulders and his face was twisted with worry. “Are you okay?” He asked. “Let go of me.” Cody said bitterly, pulling Seojun’s hands off of him by his wrists. Seojun looked hurt, but gave him some space. Cody turned his head away and folded his arms over his chest. “I’m fine.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure? You had us scared.” Frankie said from behind him. Cody realized that he was in the nurse’s office, sitting on a cold bed. “Yeah.” He replied. Frankie handed him a cup of water. “What happened?” She asked. “I’m not sure.” Cody said slowly, shooting Seojun a knowing look which he avoided “I probably just got dehydrated or something. No big deal.” He said. “No big deal? You literally passed out!” Frankie exclaimed. “I know.” He mumbled. She groaned in frustration and facepalmed. “Ugh come on.” She said.</p><p>Sudden Priscilla popped into the room with a bunch of snacks that she swiped from the table. The group stared at each other silently for a moment. “So. . . you guys wanna get out of here?” She asked.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Just tell me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Cw: Mentions of blood and injuries.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Quickly so they wouldn’t get caught, the group snuck out of the back door and ran out into the field. “Come on, come on let’s go!” Priscilla whispered hurriedly. Frankie pulled Cody along so that he wouldn’t fall again and Seojun jogged behind them. Priscilla had the flashlight of her phone on and while everyone was in the neighborhood distracted by Earlyween fun, they ran through the town and made their way to the beach.</p><p> </p><p>Frankie set Cody down on the sand and kicked her shoes off. She ran excitedly towards the water with her arms flying. Priscilla set her wig on top of her jacket she had put on the sand and ran after her. “Ooh! It’s cold!” Frankie exclaimed. “Is it?” Priscilla asked, screeching to a halt just before the shoreline. “Yeah!” Frankie splashed water on her legs and Priscillla jumped high into the air. “Augh! Rude!” She yelled. She kicked water up at Frankie, who laughed and covered her face. “Hey!” She shouted. “You splashed me first!” Priscilla said. “And I’ll do it again!” Frankie said back. She bent down and threw water up at Priscilla. Priscilla shrieked and chased her through the shallows, making sure to splash her as much as she could. </p><p> </p><p>Cody and Seojun stood on the beach stiffly. They didn’t look at each other at all, neither was quite sure what to say. After a long and awkward moment of just standing there, Cody mustered up his courage and started walking away. “Come on, let’s go to the docks.” He said. Seojun followed quietly with his hands in his pockets.</p><p> </p><p>At the docks, Cody pulled off his shoes and dipped his feet in the water. He sighed deeply into the wind. Seojun stood cautiously behind him, unsure if he should come any closer. Cody patted the spot next to him. “Come on, sit down already.” He said. Other than the creaking of the wood, Seojun walked silently forward. He sat next to him, hugging his knees tightly to his chest with his chin resting on them. They sat in a cold, awkward silence for a moment while they both thought.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun noticed that Cody had his arms held close to his body and was hunched over. “You cold?” He asked. “A little bit, my jacket’s kinda thin.” He said. Seojun took the jacket that he was holding and set it over Cody’s head. Cody wrapped it around his shoulders and kept his eyes on the water. “Thanks.” He mumbled. Seojun nodded. “No problem.” He replied.</p><p> </p><p>They were silent again. The sounds of the waves and the crickets only made it more awkward. Like a shitty sit-com. Cody couldn’t take it anymore and finally spoke up. </p><p> </p><p>“I know you know what’s going on.” He said. “What do you mean?” Seojun asked. “Don’t play dumb with me, I’m not an idiot.” He said bitterly. “I never said you were-” “You don’t have to.” Cody cut him off. “I don’t know how you thought I wouldn’t notice something so obvious.” He said. Seojun sighed. “Yeah you’re right. That was stupid.” He said. “You think?” Cody said sarcastically. Seojun stayed silent. “It really hurts that you didn’t even bother to tell me, since it’s clearly affecting both of us.” Cody stated bitterly. “I know I’m sorry. I was going to tell you at some point, but I was scared. Things like that could put me in danger.” Seojun said. “I didn’t know how you’d take it.” </p><p> </p><p>Cody chuckled angrily. “Wow, seriously? This is what you think of me? I’ve done my best to be your friend and make sure you were okay and you don’t even have a little bit of trust in me?” He said. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that I had to think of myself and my family first!” Seojun explained. “I understand that, but you couldn't even give me a heads up. Like, “Oh if you stick around me, you’ll start seeing shit that isn’t there!” He said in a mocking voice. “I didn’t know that was gonna happen! It wasn’t supposed to!” Seojun said. “You still could’ve done better!” Cody exclaimed. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked angry now. His lips were curled and he looked like he was on the verge of crying. “Well what about you huh? It’s not you’ve told me everything about you either!” He said. Cody jerked back in shock. “Why are you turning this on me?” He asked. “I’m not! I’m just saying we both lied about stuff!” Seojun said. “Well at least the things I didn’t talk about don’t affect you!” Cody said. “And how would you know that?” Seojun asked. “Well for starters they don’t get in your head while you’re trying to sleep!” Cody shouted. “Oh that’s rich!” Seojun said harshly, rolling his eyes. “I don’t understand why you can’t even understand what you did! You came to me upset about all the stress you were under and then let it continue! If you had just told me from the start, we wouldn’t be here arguing!” Cody said. Seojun paused, unable to think of anything else. “Just tell me what’s going on and stop lying to me!” Cody yelled.</p><p> </p><p>While they shouted more, they didn’t notice what was going on above them. A huge thunderclap rang through the air, causing them to jump. They looked up right as the sky flashed green with lightning. The ground shook violently and Cody held on tightly to the post of the dock. Thunder rang through the air again, and the ground shook once more, rustling up the waves. The combined force of the water and the shaking ground tore the dock apart with a loud “CRACK!”</p><p> </p><p>Cody cried out and held on tightly to the post as the waves started to carry him away. He looked back at Seojun with panic in his eyes and cried out for help. Seojun froze from the shock for a moment. Whatever had just happened was clearly unnatural, and he was confused.</p><p> </p><p>“Seojun! Stop staring and help me!” Cody shouted as the water carried him out further. As Seojun blinked himself out of his trance, the green lightning flashed again. As the sound hit his ears, something huge fell into the water, bouncing Cody straight off of his post and into the sea. </p><p> </p><p>That sure woke him up quick.</p><p> </p><p>Cody tried to keep his head above the water as the waves rolled roughly. He waved as high as he could to stay afloat. “I’m coming, just hold on!” Seojun called out to him. He was far away now and heading out to the open sea. Seojun tore off his white button up, leaving the blue superman t-shirt and ripped off the compression patch on his arm. When he looked back, he saw Cody starting to sink under the water. There was no time to wait for the side effects to wear off. He dived into the water and swam after Cody as fast as he could. Cody managed to wave his hand above the water one more time, before disappearing under the tumbling waves. </p><p> </p><p>He gritted his teeth and swam faster against the force of the water. He took a deep breath and dove under the water where he had last seen Cody’s hand pop up. It was hard to see before his eyes adjusted to his new surroundings, but he quickly caught sight of Cody rapidly sinking deeper into the water. His back was facing Seojun and his front was towards the ocean floor.</p><p> </p><p>He swam towards him quickly, fighting the water around him. As he got closer, he noticed something glowing. A big green object was dragging Cody down into the ocean with it. It was heavy and sinking quicker by the second. Seojun had to act fast. </p><p> </p><p>He pushed forward and finally reached Cody. He grabbed hold of him by his shirt collar and moved under him where the object was. It was covered in spikes and two had pierced through the fabric of his jeans and into the side of his left leg, with another stuck in his vest. </p><p> </p><p>He knew it was a risky move, but he had to hurry. He quickly broke the spikes off of the object and left them in his leg so that he wouldn’t bleed out. He looked back at Cody and saw that less bubbles were starting to rise from his mouth. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh no.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He ripped off Cody’s vest and cradled his body in his arms. With all his might, he left the object behind and swam back up to the surface. He bursted through the water and gasped for air. He held Cody’s head above the water and swam back to the docks. Still powered by panic, he ran onto the beach. He laid Cody on his back in the sand and called upon his memories from life skills class that semester to help.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>This better work.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A best he could, he pushed down on Cody’s chest. He started to do compressions. After a while he heard terrible noises, which he assumed were his ribs beginning to break, but he powered through it and didn’t stop. He gave him mouth to mouth and kept going. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Come on already! I can't apologize if you die on me!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Tears blurred his vision as he tried again, but he kept going. His energy was starting to deplete and his arms and chest were growing sore. He tried mouth to mouth on more time and hoped for the best. He pushed on his chest five more times, and finally on the sixth time Cody spit up the water and began coughing.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun gasped in relief and hugged Cody closely. “I thought you were dead there for a second!” He cried.</p><p>“...”</p><p>“What?” Seojun asked.</p><p>“Ow! You’re hurting my ribs!” Cody wheezed. </p><p>Seojun laid him gently back down on the sand. “Oh, sorry Cody I didn’t mean too.”</p><p> </p><p>“Guys!” Priscilla shouted. She was running with Frankie’s arm over her shoulders. Supporting her so that she wouldn’t fall. “Are you guys okay?” Seojun asked. “Yeah, for the most part. Frankie hurt her foot though.” Priscilla said. “Do either of your phones work?” Seojun asked urgently. “Mine’s good.” Frankie said in a strained voice, handing him her phone. “Thanks. I’m gonna call Mr. Burns, can you guys wait here and watch Cody, he’s really banged up.” He said. Frankie jumped down off of Priscilla and checked on him. While they weren’t looking, Seojun ran back for his compression patch as he dialed Charlie’s number.</p><p> </p><p>“Frankie? Where are you? Miss. Gale said that you all left the building!” Charlie said urgently.</p><p>“It’s Seojun actually.” He said as he put the patch on his chest. “And something really bad happened. There was this weird storm and Cody got swept out to sea! He’s back on the beach now, but he’s really badly hurt!” Seojun explained hurriedly. Charlie paused. “I’m headed your way. How bad is it?” He asked. Seojun jogged back to Priscilla and Frankie, who were trying hard to keep Cody awake. “He drowned and he’s barely conscious right now, he also has something sharp stuck in one of his legs.” Seojun said. “I’m about to turn on the next road, just stay on the phone with me!” Charlie ordered. “Okay Mr. Burns.” Seojun replied. </p><p> </p><p>Chase came screeching down the road and his cab door flew open right as he stopped. Charlie flew out of the car and over to them. “Cody!” He cried. “Dad.” Cody whispered in a faint and raspy voice. “Oh my God! “ He exclaimed. He scooped Cody up in his arms and started off to the car. </p><p> </p><p>Kade and Heatwave arrived just after him. “The rest of you come with me!” Kade shouted.</p><p>Seojun helped Frankie and Priscilla into Heatwave’s cab and sat in the passenger seat next to Kade. “Are you guys hurt?” He asked. “I’m okay, but I think I sprained my ankle.” Frankie said. “I’ve got a few scratches and a headache to be honest.” Priscilla said. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun reached up to scratch his forehead and was met with a twinge of pain instead of relief. “Augh.” He groaned. He looked at his hand and saw that his fingertips were covered in blood. He blinked in surprise. “Oh, I guess I got a gash-” His energy completely dipped and his head banged against the window of Heatwave’s cab as he fainted. Kade sighed. “Drive faster, firebot.” He said. “Affirmative.” Heatwave replied, his robot voice slipping slightly.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Overnight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Cw: Mentions of blood and injuries.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seojun woke up as they pulled into the hospital. He groaned as he sat up, realizing that he had a splitting headache. Right after that, he shivered from still having wet clothes on, which didn’t help his pounding head.</p><p> </p><p>Priscilla tapped him on the shoulder with concern. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked. Seojun rested his head on the windowsill. "Um, yeah I think so." He muttered.</p><p> </p><p>Kade carried Frankie into the hospital and Priscilla walked next to them. Seojun got out of the car as the paramedics came to get him.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun didn't like this. If they work on him, there are plenty of obvious signs that he isn't human. Such as the amount of teeth and ribs he has, and the color of his blood, but right now he had no choice, so he came in with them.</p><p> </p><p>Lucky for him, he didn't need a transfusion and that gash was the only injury he had. They stitched him up while he was awake. It was a big one, and he needed stitches for it along his right temple to the center of his forehead. It sucked since the anesthetic was for humans and started to wear off halfway through.</p><p> </p><p>Not long after settling in, he heard his room door open. His mother rushed in with Kerchek following not too far behind with Kamina in his arms. “Seojun! Are you okay love?” She asked him, rubbing the side of his head that wasn’t cut up. “Yeah I’m fine.” He said. Kerchek watched them silently as Namseon hugged him gently. He shifted Kamina in his arms and looked around the room, clearly uncomfortable. “Glad you’re okay kid. You had us scared when Mr. Burns called us so late.” He said. “Yeah I’m sorry.” Seojun said. </p><p>“You should be. What the hell were you thinking? Sneaking out like that and going to the beach? Are you serious?” Namseon scolded him. “I know. I wasn’t really thinking much about that at all.” He said.</p><p> </p><p> Namseon sighed deeply in frustration. “We’re on this planet to be safe Seojun. Going out and doing dangerous things defeats the purpose.” She said. “I understand.” Seojun replied, avoiding her eyes. She lifted up his head by his chin and kissed him on the cheek. “I know you do. Get some rest now. We’ll come get you in the morning.” She said. “Okay, bye mam.” Seojun said. “Goodnight.” Namseon replied. “Later kid.” Kerchek said stiffly, turning on his heels. “Bye.” He responded.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun tried his best to sleep, but after two hours he lay in bed wide awake despite being completely exhausted. He was too worried to even close his eyes for more than a minute. Cody's injuries had been pretty bad and humans are fragile. He probably wouldn't die, but could his body handle all of that?</p><p> </p><p>Without thinking, he found himself sneaking out of his room. He peaked out and watched for the nurses to stop before he walked out. At least from his little time on Earth he knew some things about human hospitals. In his condition, Cody would be in the ICU. </p><p> </p><p>He walked casually into the waiting room like he belonged and saw the Burns family there. Charlie was sitting in a chair with head in his hands, the front of his white shirt was covered in dried blood and he had drying tears on his face. Kade was sitting beside him with his chin pressed on his clasped hands and his left leg bouncing away. A blonde woman who he had never seen before (Haley) sat next to him, rubbing his back and assuring him that things would be alright. Dani was standing with her back leaning against the wall and her arms folded tightly to her chest. His face was screwed with worry. Graham paced back and forth in the center of the room, muttering to himself. He caught sight of the Rescue bots peaking in, but decided to say nothing about that. The entire scene looked like a disaster.</p><p> </p><p>"Hi." He said awkwardly. Everyone in the room turned towards him, and he gave them a small wave. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Charlie asked. His eyes and nose were bright red and his voice was hoarse. "Probably, but I couldn't stay. I um, wanted to know how Cody's doing." He said.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone was silent for a moment and Dani took over. "He's still in surgery Seojun." She said. "We're not completely sure what's going on right now, but the nurses are running in and out a lot." She sighed. "So as you can see, that has us pretty anxious right now."</p><p> </p><p>"Oh. I'm sorry." He said. No one responded. He shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Um. Can I stay with you guys?" He asked.</p><p> </p><p>"If you explain what exactly happened out there." Charlie said. Seojun nodded. "Okay." He sat on a chair on the other side of the room.</p><p> </p><p>"We got bored and left the school to go to the beach." He started, leaving out certain details. "Cody and I were sitting at the docks and while we were there some kind of storm blew over before we had time to react. It made the ground and the water move so hard that it tore the docks and Cody got swept out into the water." He explained. "I was really shocked, so I didn't react right away until something big fell into the water and hit him." The family listened attentively as he told the story which made him nervous, but he kept going. "So I jumped in after him. The thing was dragging him down." He said. "There was something there?" Dani asked. "Yeah. It was like a big spiky rock and a couple of them had gone through Cody's leg so I found a weak point and broke em off." Of course that was only half true, he had definitely broken them, but he hadn't taken the time to find a weak point. Really, he didn't need to.</p><p> </p><p>"So after that I pulled him up onto the beach and gave him cpr and yeah, we're here now I guess." He finished, scratching the base of his neck.</p><p>"Wow, that's a lot. I bet you didn't think you were gonna do all that on your little trip to the beach." Charlie joked to lighten the mood. "No, no I didn't." Seojun replied solemnly. "But seriously, thank you. I'm glad you were there. I can't imagine what would've happened if you weren't." He said. Seojun shook his head. "No, you shouldn't thank me. If we hadn't been there in the first place, none of this would have happened." Seojun said. Charlie nodded. "Though that may be true, you still stepped in and saved my son. As his father, that means a lot to me." He patted Seojun on the shoulder. "I'm glad that he has a friend like you." He added. Seojun folded his lips into his mouth and nodded, avoiding Charlie's eyes. "Yeah, okay." He said shakily.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I don't even know if we're gonna be friends after this mess. I should've jumped in sooner, then he wouldn't be so injured now. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>"One question though." Kade said. Seojun looked up at him attentively. "How did you guys not notice a big storm coming in like that?" He asked. Seojun looked down at his hands. "We were busy talking." He said. He saw a look of suspicion on Kade's face through the corner of his eye, but whatever he was thinking he didn't say it. He just nodded. </p><p> </p><p>They sat in a cold silence as they waited some more. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, Doctor McSwain walked into the waiting room. Charlie and Kade stood up and Graham stopped pacing again.</p><p> </p><p>"Cody's injuries were very serious. He had two deep puncture wounds in the side of his right calf and three broken ribs. He lost quite a bit of blood and we had to transfuse two units." He said. "He's stable now, but due to how long he was deprived of oxygen he will be in a medically induced coma for two weeks. We doubt there will be long term effects to his brain, though he will obviously have scars on his leg." He continued. "We sent the objects that pierced him to Doctor Greene's lab for testing." He said.</p><p> </p><p>"Thank you doctor." Charlie said with relief. Doctor McSwain nodded. "I suggest you all get some rest. It's been a long night, and you-" He turned to Seojun. "Should probably be getting back to your room young man." Seojun nodded. "Yes sir." He said. “I’ll make sure he gets back.” Haley said.</p><p> </p><p>While Haley walked him silently back to his room, he was completely lost in thought. Though he was a little sad that he didn’t get to see Cody, he was glad to hear that he’d be okay. It took a little bit of weight off of his shoulders. He wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if he had heard worse news instead.</p><p> </p><p>“This is it?” Haley asked, pointing to his room number. “Yeah.” He said. “Okay.” She patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going back now, make sure not to sneak out again.” She said lightly. Seojun smiled a little. “Okay.” He said. Haley walked away quickly and he walked back into his room.</p><p> </p><p>He fell into his bed and looked at the ceiling. It was 1:10 in the morning and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he started to fall asleep. His head was finally just clear enough to let him rest. But before he was out for the night he decided something for the future. As soon as he could he was going to tell Cody everything, whether they were friends or not.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Back to life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Cw: Mentions of blood and injuries</p><p>If you like music with your writing this scene goes with "Nile" By Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar. Start the song when "Heyo" shows up in the text.</p><p>Here's the link for youtube if needed: https://youtu.be/qX1vVxCuYH8</p><p>And of course, thoughts are in italics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Oh Primus! What’s happening to me?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t really turn to see, but when his head dipped below the water he caught a glimpse of something green glowing under him and he felt searing pain in his right leg. He’d definitely been hit by something, but he wasn’t sure what. He just knew that with it piercing his leg. There was no way he could stay above the water for much longer with the extra weight attached to him.</p><p> </p><p>He called out to Seojun for help one last time and took the deepest breath that he could before he sunk under the water again. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Come on, what’s taking so long?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He waved his hand above the water, hoping for help. A wave rolled over him and knocked him off of the little balance he had in the water. He had used up his strength, and now with the heavy rock in his leg, he was sinking into the water. Seojun still wasn’t there. Everything suddenly became quiet and he looked up at the moon through the water.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>This is it. I’m done for.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>His life flashed before his eyes and the memories of his family, the bots, his mothers voice, Frankie, and lastly Seojun. He should’ve just told him that he liked him, maybe he would’ve been rejected, but now he’d never know and he’d die with regret. Especially since he’d spent their last moments together fighting with him.</p><p> </p><p>As his eyes began to close he heard something splash in the water. Weakly he looked up. Something huge was above him and swimming towards him fast. He felt panicked, but there was nothing he could do.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Great, this thing is gonna eat me?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>As it got closer, he took it in and watched. The closer it got, the more familiar it appeared. More humanoid too. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Seojun?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He looked different, he was definitely bigger, and his eyes were glowing for some reason. Cody wasn’t too focused on that, or anything really. He desperately needed air. He tried to stop it as Seojun approached, but his mouth was forced open, along with the air from his lungs. His heart raced and he tried to hold his breath, but he just couldn’t anymore.</p><p> </p><p>He felt a hand on his back and he turned in the water. He caught sight of his face. It was completely dark other than his big green eyes which pierced through the water and were completely focused on him. When he came down to get him, Seojun was scratched by a spike as he ripped Cody’s vest apart. Cody’s vision was completely black now as water rushed into his lungs, but he could feel himself being lifted towards the surface.</p><p> </p><p>The next time he opened his eyes, he was laying on the beach. Seojun gave him a big hug as he coughed. While he was glad that they were both alive, his chest was burning in pain. Luckily Seojun heard him say that it hurt and he gently set him back down. His vision was very spotty and his hearing was impaired due to lack of oxygen, but he heard Frankie and Priscilla approach frantically.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh, they’re okay too.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun avoided their eyes as he spoke, his were still glowing but more dimly. Cody focused on breathing as he ran back to the docks.</p><p> </p><p>“Cody! It’s gonna be okay stay with us!” Frankie urged as she patted his face. “His leg..” Priscilla said. “Don’t worry about that right now, we have to keep him awake!” Frankie said. She winced as she shifted over her foot. “Come on Cody, help is coming!” She said, patting his face harder.</p><p> </p><p>He heard the screech of Chase’s tires as he came speeding down the street with his sirens on. His father called out to him and relief washed over his body. “Dad.” He whispered. “Oh my God!” He cried. Charlie picked him up as carefully as he could and laid him in the back of Chase’s cab.</p><p> </p><p>“How is he, chief?” Chase asked as he started up again. “Not good Chase, drive faster please.” Charlie said. His shirt was covered in blood from Cody’s leg and he was losing more quickly, there was no time to waste.</p><p> </p><p>Cody lay in the back of Chase’s cab feeling very dazed. He wasn’t in as much pain anymore, but that was only due to shock. “Hang on Cody, we’re almost there!” Charlie urged him. Cody nodded slowly in response. </p><p> </p><p>When they pulled up, the paramedics met them at the door. Cody was quickly loaded onto a stretcher and given oxygen. “Take him to the ICU, quickly!” Someone yelled. By now, everything sounded like he was under the water again. He looked around and caught sight of his father’s worried face. He wanted to say something, but he was too weak to do anything. He closed his eyes as he was brought into the operating room and the last thing he heard were the sounds of the heart monitor.</p><p> </p><p>                            <em>“Heyo.”                                 “-game-”</em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“-my jacket.”.                                            “-Kalbi.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>                            “Phwug."                   “-ondie."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>          “Visions.”                        “-you’re right.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>    “Fall out”                                “Nope.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Cody gasped and reached out in front of him, but there was nothing there but the air. The words had spun around in his head eerily, like they were haunting him. He clutched his head and covered his ears, but he still heard them. “No. Leave me alone.” He said softly. “Who are you talking to?” “Huh?” Cody opened his eyes and looked up. “This definitely isn’t the hospital.” He said. He stood up and looked around, astonished at what he was seeing. The grass was wisteria colored with about four inches of crystal clear water covering it, and the sky was seagreen in the middle, and faded into white at the horizon. There was one tree at the edge of the field. It was huge and green with bright pink leaves. A girl stood under it with a book in her hands. In shock and awe he walked closer to her and she watched him closely. She had curly black hair and big piercing dark green eyes, pale brown skin with rosey features, her nails were like long black claws, she wore a sleeveless lace black dress and she was very tall. She towered over him like she was a tree as well.</p><p> </p><p>“Am I dead?” He asked her. “No, just injured.” She said calmly. “Oh.” He looked down at his feet. “What’s going on?” He asked. “You’re in limbo right now, between life and death.” She said. “You’re very straightforward.” He said. She chuckled and smiled. “Thanks, I try.” That smile made him feel a little bit safer. </p><p> </p><p>“Do you know how I can get back home?” He asked her. She cocked her head. “What’s the rush? Why don’t you stay and talk. It’s peaceful here, you’ll go home in time.” She said. Her voice was captivating and it did make him want to stay with her a little bit, but he had other things in mind. “No thanks. I wanna get back to my family as soon as possible. I’ve got things to do.” he said. She smiled again. “I see. Well…” </p><p> </p><p>The air around her hand swirled and became black. Cody froze in place as she walked closer to him. “Take this.” She said, touching his chest with the palm of her six fingered hand. A strange feeling washed over him and the air around him grew cold, he shut his eyes and she backed away. “It’ll be useful.” She said. He touched his chest, which felt hot to the touch. “Um, thank you?” He said hesitantly. "No problem.” She said. She turned to the side and spun her hand slowly in circles, like she was stirring batter and slowly a glowing purple hole opened up next to them. “There’s your way out, good luck Cody.” She said. He looked inside and he could see himself on his hospital bed on the other side. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Weird.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you.” He said, stepping into the portal. He turned back towards her and stared at her back out of the opening. “You look familiar, who are you?” He asked curiously. She smiled and waved. “Just call me a friend.” she said. Before he could respond she closed the portal and he was sent flying through the air. He closed his eyes as a bright light hit them and blinded him.</p><p> </p><p>He sat up in bed with tubes in his mouth and looked around the room. A nurse stood at the foot of his bed and dropped his clipboard along with his jaw. “Hello? Doctor McSwain, he’s up!” He shouted as he ran down the hallway.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Wide awake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“We’re not sure why he’s awake right now, but his vitals are good, he’s speaking clearly, and he’s responding to stimuli. We’ll keep him here overnight for observation, and if he does well we can send him on home.” Doctor McSwain said. </p><p> </p><p>It turns out that Cody had woken up four days ahead of schedule. It was really confusing to wake up and be full of tubes, but luckily most of those were removed after they realized he was okay. Now, he was sitting in his hospital room eating jello while Charlie talked to the doctor.</p><p> </p><p>“Now I almost feel stupid for being worried.” Frankie said. She and Doc Greene had come to visit along with the Burns family as soon as they heard he was conscious. She had sprained her foot and had some hairline fractures in her navicular and 1st metararsal, so she was stuck in a boot until they healed. Cody chuckled. “Why?” She asked. “Cus this this so like you to just pop right back up. You do it all the time.” Frankie replied. “Well it is pretty surprising that he “popped right back up” from a coma like this.” Graham said. Cody ate another spoonful of jello and shrugged. “What can I say? I’m just built different.” He joked. Frankie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I hate it when you say that.” She said. “Hey!” Cody exclaimed, faking offense.</p><p> </p><p>“We’re so glad you’re okay buddy.” Dani said, giving him a gentle hug to avoid hurting his ribs. </p><p>“Yeah me too, I was pretty scared for a second.” Cody admitted. “Yeah i’ll bet, that was a pretty close call.” Graham said. “Yeah…” Cody said. Looking down at his cup of jello. He thought back to that dream he had before he woke up and touched his chest which still felt hot.</p><p> </p><p>“So how are Priscilla and Seojun?” He asked, trying to take his mind off of that subject. “Priscilla’s doing good, she said to tell you she’s gonna visit when you get home, and Seojun is okay I think, he visited after school.” She said. “He did?” Cody asked. “Yeah, he was really worried about you.” She said. Cody nodded. “Oh okay.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>“How are you feeling now Cody?” Charlie asked, walking into the room after his talk with Doctor McSwain. “Pretty good right now, but I think that’s just cus of the painkillers.” Cody said with a small smile. “That’s good I suppose.” He said, giving him a hug. “How do you always get into so much trouble?” He said. Cody shrugged. ‘I dunno, must be in my genes.” He joked. Charlie laughed heartily. “Probably so.” He agreed.</p><p> </p><p>After the visitor's time was over, everyone went home. Cody had some time to himself, awake this time. He laid on his back and looked up at the ceiling. His phone went off beside him on the nightstand, so he decided to look at it. He saw that Seojun had texted him.</p><p> </p><p>/Hey Cody, can we talk?</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned his phone off and rolled back onto his back. He wasn’t completely sure why he didn’t want to talk to him, but he just didn’t feel right. Now that he basically owed Seojun his life he wondered if it was wrong to be mad at him. </p><p> </p><p>“Tch!” He sucked his teeth. <em>I can be mad whenever I want.</em></p><p> </p><p>That’s what he wanted to believe at least. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to thank Seojun or yell at him and that was stressing him out. He didn’t like being stressed, it distracted him from having fun. He sunk his head into his pillow and thought some more.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Maybe I just need some space.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun turned his phone off on the other side after about ten minutes. He sighed and sunk his face into his pillow.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Figures. I should have seen this coming, I was a real jerk the last time we talked. No one wants to talk to someone who doesn’t treat them right. I’m getting down way too fast, he still could just be tired. He’s still recovering after all.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Though he tried his best to understand, it still hurt to be ignored.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Home time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts are in italics.</p><p>For texting<br/>(Cody<br/>/Seojun</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day, Cody woke up early in the morning, feeling restless. He was itching to get home and change into some real clothes. He also didn’t want to be alone where he’d have the opportunity to think about his worries. He had to wait though, because right now it was only six o’clock in the morning and his family were picking him up at 12:00. He decided that the best thing to do would just be to go back to sleep.</p><p> </p><p>Instead of the peace he had hoped for, he saw flashes from the other night. The green lightning striking and lighting up the sky, the water rushing around him, the pain of being stabbed in the leg, the burning of his lungs as they filled with water, and the feeling of helplessness as he sunk into the ocean. Those things just repeated over, and over, and over until he woke up in a cold sweat, panting into the air.</p><p> </p><p>He closed his eyes again, and slowed his breathing.</p><p> </p><p><em>It’s okay, I’m fine.</em> He kept telling himself.</p><p> </p><p>He didn’t feel fine though, he felt scared and anxious. He flopped his arms out by his sides and looked up at the ceiling.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What time is it anyway?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He rolled over and looked at his phone. It was only 8:22. He groaned in frustration. Why couldn’t time just go a little faster so that he could get out of here already? A nurse peaked into the room and he looked up at her. “Oh, you’re awake.” She said in surprise. “Yep.” Cody replied. “Okay, I’m just here to do a little check up.” She said. Cody nodded. “Okay.” He replied.</p><p> </p><p>Cody made small talk with the nurse as a distraction while she took his vitals so that he wouldn’t have to think. She was really nice, a little awkward though. “And that’s it! Your vitals are looking good Cody. If this keeps up, you should be heading home soon!” She announced. Cody nodded. “Cool.” He looked at his phone for the time. It was still only 9:00. This was annoying, he still had three hours to kill.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I could talk to Seojun to pass some time. No way! I’m not talking to him right now! Stop thinking about him!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He decided to engross himself in bad wattpad fanfiction so that he could scold the writer in his head instead of himself. It turns out that reading a shitty fanfiction passes a lot of time. He had gotten so into all of the messy twists and turns that the next time he looked up at the clock it was 11:43. </p><p> </p><p>He paused in shock. “Oh..” He muttered. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Maybe that idea worked a little too well.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He closed out wattpad and decided to spend the last few minutes before his dad got there watching someone make rainbow sims.</p><p> </p><p>Finally at 12:02 his room door opened and another nurse came in. “Your dad’s here, you’re free to go Kiddo.” He said. “Finally!” Cody cheered. Charlie walked in and gave him a big hug. “Hey dad.” Cody said. “Hey. You've been alright this morning?” He asked. “Yeah.” Cody replied. “Okay, pajamas or regular clothes?” Charlie asked. “Pajamas, definitely.” Cody decided. Charlie chuckled. “I’d probably choose the same.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>He pulled out a pair of long sleeved blue and white striped pajamas from the shoulder bag he’d brought and handed them to Cody. “Do you need any help getting these on?” He asked. Cody shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.” He replied. “Okay, call me when you’re done so we can get you on out of here.” Charlie said, walking back towards the door. “You got it.” Cody replied.</p><p> </p><p>He pulled his clothes on slowly to bother his ribs as little as possible. He never realized how much his chest had to move to do stuff until he had broken three of his ribs, which sucked because every little movement hurt. He managed though. Since his pants were loose, it wasn’t hard to get them over his cast, but he had to take short breathers for his ribs. Lastly he slid on his shoe and was glad it was over.</p><p> </p><p>He hopped to the door on one foot and peaked his head out into the hallway. “Okay, I’m done.” Cody said. Charlie looked up from his phone. “Well that was fast. Come on, get your crutches and let’s check you out at the front desk.” He instructed. Cody nodded and hopped back over to his bedside. He grabbed his crutches. He wasn’t quite used to them yet, but he could get around without falling on his face so it was fine. They made his arms kind of sore though.</p><p> </p><p>Charlie grabbed his stuff for him and not long later, they were out of the hospital. Cody breathed in the cool air as the breeze swirled around his head. It was colder than the last time he had been awake. It was October now, and it was kind of strange to be honest. For ten days, he had been totally unconscious. He hoped he didn’t miss too much. He had already missed six days of school. (On the bright side, all he had to do was some extra tutoring and not all of the lessons he had missed, and he'd be at home for the next week.)</p><p> </p><p>“What are you thinking about son?” Charlie asked. “Not much, just glad to be back.” He said. Charlie smiled and nodded. “That’s understandable.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>Chase pulled up at the curb in front of them and opened his doors. “Cody, it’s good to see you awake and well!” He said excitedly. “Yeah, it’s good to see you guys again.” Cody replied as he got into the passenger seat. “Did I miss anything around here while I was out?” He asked. Chase thought for a moment. “A rogue lawnmower, a digital virus through the island, and killer roombas.” Chase summarized.</p><p> </p><p>Cody was unsurprised, this was Griffin Rock after all. “Sounds like a lot.” He replied. “I had to buff my scratches constantly for three days after the lawnmower.” Chase added. Cody shook his head. “I’m guessing you didn’t like that.” He half-joked. Chase of course, took it literally. “Of course I did not! It was even more work than I already have to do!” He exclaimed. Cody laughed heartily. “It is not funny Cody!” Chase said.</p><p> </p><p>When Chase pulled into the bunker there was a big banner saying “WELCOME HOME CODY!!!” with the letters slightly lopsided. Definitely Blades’ work. Charlie grabbed his crutches and helped him out of the car. His family and friends cheered as he got out of the car. He felt a little flustered from the attention, but that was fine.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Code!” Kade called to him, wrapping him in a hug. “Good to see you lil bro!” Graham said, joining in on the hug. “Hey! Why are you intruding on my time?” Kade asked. “Glad you’re back buddy.” Dani said, also coming into the hug. Kade looked defeated. </p><p> </p><p>Cody smiled up at his older siblings. While he hadn’t gotten as much time to miss them, they sure missed him. “Please, never do something like that again.” Blades said. Cody chuckled. “I’ll try.” Everyone froze and stared at Cody intensely. “Okay, okay I won’t!” He said defensively. “You better not.” Heatwave said. “I just said I wouldn’t!” Cody said. </p><p> </p><p>His family let go of him and Frankie hobbled over to him with Priscilla in tow. She gave him a big hug. “We need to cover you in bubble wrap or something.” She joked. “Nah, I’d find some way to get out.” He said. “You know what? Yeah you would.” Frankie replied. Priscilla chuckled and stepped forward. “Here, I uh wanted to give you this to make it up to you. You know, since I suggested leaving.” She said, sheepishly handing him a very well decorated basket of Halloween candy. “Mrs. Luskey helped me with it.” She added. “Thanks Priscilla, and don’t worry about it. The storm was a freak accident after all.” He said. Priscilla smiled with relief. “Thanks.” She gave him a short hug and backed away. Frankie nudged her arm with her elbow and gave her a look. Priscilla smiled sheepishly. “Stop it.” She replied, rubbing her arm.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright guys, give him some space so he can sit down.” Charlie said, shooing the crowd away. “Oops sorry, I almost forgot about that.” Frankie said. “It’s fine, but I am kinda tired.” Cody said. He hobbled over to a couch nearby and sat down. </p><p> </p><p>“How are you feeling Cody?” Doc Greene asked. “I’m fine.” He said. “We’re still doing tests on the fragments. We haven’t found a match for them, but we’re getting closer.” Anna said, shifting CeCe in her arms. Cody nodded. “Okay, cool.” </p><p> </p><p>He wasn’t sure what to think of that. On one hand he did want to know what it was, but on the other bandit was terrifying. What if it was more dangerous than he thought it was? That possibility just made him want to forget everything that happened. Unfortunately, with the effect that situation had on him and the things he had felt and seen he just couldn’t.</p><p> </p><p>“You okay Cody?” Dani asked. Cody snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. She looked concerned, and he decided to reassure her so that she wouldn’t pick up on his worries. He gave her a small, fake smile. “Yeah.” He said. “Okay.” She said, messing up his hair. “Hey!” He said, covering his head in defense with a genuine smile. </p><p> </p><p>After a while the Greene’s left and Priscilla was picked up by Mrs. Luskey. Cody went upstairs to rest. It had been a long day and he was tired. He looked at his phone. It was 4:32 now. He looked through his alerts and saw another text from Seojun.</p><p> </p><p>/Are you avoiding me?</p><p> </p><p>Cody sighed. He hated feeling like this. It was so annoying. Why couldn’t he just move and be happy like normal? He decided the least he could do was tell him the truth.</p><p> </p><p>(Yeah. I’m not doing so well right now.</p><p> </p><p>He debated whether or not to send that text for about a minute before editing it.</p><p> </p><p>(Yeah, sorry. I’m just not up for much right now.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun replied about two minutes later.</p><p> </p><p>/Oh okay. Well, if you ever need someone to talk to I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.</p><p> </p><p>(Okay, got it.</p><p> </p><p>/See you around?</p><p> </p><p>(Yeah. We live in the same town, remember.</p><p> </p><p>/I guess so. Bye.</p><p> </p><p>(Bye.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Seojun put his phone down on his bed with the screen down. He buried his face in his pillow and shut his eyes. His face burned as tears soaked into the pillow.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I really fucked up, didn’t I?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Was it even worth crying over? He should have seen it coming from a mile away. He had just said he wasn't up for anything, he shouldn’t be taking it so personally. He was critically injured after all. It’s not surprising. He still talked to Frankie and Priscilla though.</p><p> </p><p>He tried his best to stay positive, but his fears and insecurities just kept slipping in. Thinking in general right now just made him cry harder, so he decided to just take a nap instead so that he didn’t have to think at all.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Cody rolled over on his back and spread his arms out across his bed. He heard a knock on his door and turned his head towards it. “What?” He asked. “Can I come in?” Kade asked from the other side of the door. Cody sighed with exasperation. “Fine.” He replied shortly. </p><p> </p><p>Kade walked in and gave him a look. “Why are you sprawled out like that?” He asked. Cody shrugged. “It’s comfortable.” He said. Kade nodded. “I’m surprised I didn’t see Seojun over here once today.” He said. “He was busy.” He lied. “Oh okay. I just didn't think he’d miss it.” He commented. </p><p> </p><p>Cody wrinkled his nose as he started to become annoyed. “Are you here for an actual valid reason or to make stupid comments?” He snapped. Kade raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Okay, my bad. I’ll leave you alone.” He said, shutting the door.</p><p> </p><p>Cody pulled the covers over his head as soon as he was gone and screwed his face into a hard frown trying not to cry. Unfortunately, that didn’t help at all. He turned on his side and cried silently with his jaw clenched. He didn’t want anyone to hear him while he felt like he was falling apart.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. This is a disaster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After crying himself to sleep that night, he woke up tired and pissed the next day. All night he had dreamed about his accident and kept waking up. He had barely gotten any sleep that night and he had woken up with hair in his mouth! He hopped tired to the bathroom and after doing his business he looked in the mirror.</p><p> </p><p>His hair was a mess and his eyes were bright red. He sighed tiredly and blinked at his reflection.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ok.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He climbed back onto his bed and started to fall back asleep. As soon as he closed his eyes he forced himself to stay awake. <em>Nope! Let’s do something else!</em></p><p> </p><p>He rolled out of bed and slid onto the floor. He grabbed his computer and watched movies all day until his dad told him to go to bed.</p><p> </p><p>The next day he had only slept for four hours, and had spent the rest of the night from two in the morning barely awake and watching Youtube videos on his phone. By the time it was time for his family to go to work, he was exhausted and didn’t want to do anything. He turned on his side and looked out of the window “Ugh. Why is the sun so bright?” He murmured as he squinted. That day, he didn’t do anything except for rolling around his room and watching YouTube videos.</p><p> </p><p>It was just the same cycle over and over again until three days later. At nine in the morning, Charlie came in and opened up all of his windows, letting in the harsh sun. “Ah! What the-” Cody yelped. Charlie stood in front of his bed with a strong stance and a stern face. “Come on, Cody you’ve barely been out of your room this week and you have a checkup in two hours!” Charlie said. Cody grunted and pulled his blanket over his head. “Nope! You’re getting up.” Charlie said, pulling the sheets all the way off of him. He paused. “Are you growing your hair out?” He asked. Cody wrinkled his nose. “What? What do you mean?” He asked. Charlie sighed. “Nevermind, just get in the shower.” He said. He left the room and closed the door behind him.</p><p> </p><p>Cody didn’t even bother laying back down, his state of tiredness had been disturbed and he was too annoyed to go back to it. He stumbled out of bed and headed off to the bathroom. He passed the mirror on the way to the shower and stopped.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What the hell?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He looked in the mirror and pulled at his hair in confusion. His hair was a mess, all over his face and past his shoulders. It was a far cry from his usual cut just past his chin.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>That is definitely not normal.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He decided that he’d deal with it later and got in the shower. He started to feel better as soon as the water hit him. He definitely needed that. Though he was cleaner, he was still very tired. </p><p> </p><p>He hobbled back to his room and got dressed in a t-shirt, basketball shorts, and his bomber jacket. He pulled his damp hair into a ponytail and grabbed his phone and crutches so he could leave.</p><p> </p><p>"Good morning Cody." Chase said. "Hey Chase." Cody replied. "You sound very monotonous, that's unusual. Are you feeling alright?" Chase asked.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>That's funny coming from him. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah I'm good, just tired." He said. Obviously he was far from good, but he didn't want to get into all of that right now.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, alright then. Let's go." Chase said. </p><p> </p><p>One if the benefits of living in a small town is that nothing is far away. Cody spent the car ride looking out of the window and twisting his hair.</p><p>"You thinking about something?" Charlie asked. "No not really." Cody said. "I like your hair. Long hair looks nice on you." Charlie said. "Thanks." Cody replied blankly. Though the car ride was short, there was unfortunately enough time for it to be very awkward.</p><p> </p><p>They got to the appointment almost immediately. The nurse checked all of the regular things first, reflexes, eyes, and all that. She did the occasional hum as she went through it, but said everything was fine. She later did his x-rays and passed him off.</p><p> </p><p>After a while, Dr. Lee walked in. Cody was glad, because that meant that this appointment was closer to being over.</p><p> </p><p>"So how have you been doing recently Cody?" She asked. "Pretty good. A little sore in the ribs in stuff, but you know, I did just break 'em." He said. Dr. Lee chuckled. "That sounds good." She said. She looked at his x-rays and her eyes immediately bulged out of her head. "Well that can't be right." She murmured. Charlie was concerned. "What's the matter?" He asked. "The x-ray shows that two of his ribs are almost completely healed with the other close behind, but fractured ribs usually take around six weeks to heal. It's only been a little over two weeks since the fracture happened." She said. "Well, isn't that a good thing?" Charlie asked. "Probably, but it is concerning since it isn't normal. I think that we should run tests on him." She said.</p><p> </p><p>By now Cody had tuned out. He didn't want to be tested on, that'd mean he'd have to leave the house and more people would ask him about his accident. Why couldn't Dr. Lee just take this as a miracle and let him go? He didn't want to think about this.</p><p> </p><p>Charlie and Dr. Lee talked some more. They had also found that his leg had healed rather quickly as well, so he was going to come back the next week to get his cast cut off.</p><p> </p><p>"Pretty exciting, huh Cody? That's really lucky that happened, you'll be up and running in no time!" Charlie said enthusiastically as they drove back home. "Yeah, right." Cody replied, barely listening.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why is this happening to me? Does it have something to do with those spikes? Or that girl I saw?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He touched his chest as he thought back to it.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>But that had to have just been a dream? Right?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>As soon as he went back home he fled to his room. He sat in front of the mirror. Other than his hair, he still looked the same. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Maybe he was overreacting, things change all the time, it was no big deal. </p><p> </p><p>With how long they had been at the appointment, he was even more tired than he had been when they left. It was 3:34 now. He wanted to sleep so bad, but he knew that if he did he'd have those nightmares again and he didn't want to relive his accident again right now. So instead of sleeping, he binge watched a show that he saw a lot of people hating on. They were right, it was shitty, but it was a distraction and that was good enough for him.</p><p> </p><p>The next day, he had woken up from a three hour sleep at 12:00pm. He felt even worse than he had the day before. His chest was heavy, his sinuses were clogged something serious, his ears were ringing, and he had a terrible headache. He hung his head on his knees and groaned. "This is bullshit." He muttered.</p><p> </p><p>Nobody was home, so he was alone. He crawled around the house and managed to find an orange to snack on. He sat at the table and watched tv. Huxley Prescott was up to something stupid as usual, but at least he wasn't blabbing about aliens like he used to. After eating five oranges in front of the tv, he got bored and crawled back upstairs.</p><p> </p><p>In his room he passed the mirror and pulled at his hair. It was longer than it had been yesterday, but he wasn't sure by how much. It's not like he was counting. He sighed and blinked slowly. "Fuck it, I'm cutting it off." He grumbled. </p><p> </p><p>He hopped over to his backpack and grabbed the yellow safety scissors from out of his pencil case.</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah, these...these'll work." He muttered, holding the blades tightly. He hopped over to his chair and sat in front of the mirror. He brushed his hair which fell past his shoulders. Now how do I do this?</p><p> </p><p>He decided to put it into two long pigtails and cut it just past the nape of his neck and he put a rubber band on his bangs to cut them too. He sighed and brought the scissors to his hair. He debated internally whether or not to do it.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Should I really be doing this? Just cut it already. Nope, too soon. Now!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He quickly snipped and looked back at the mirror. He had cut just below the left rubber band. "Whew." He was relieved, until he looked to cut the next one and realized he had cut his fingertip as well. "Aw come on!" He groaned in exasperation. He put a piece of tape on his finger and kept pushing forward.</p><p> </p><p>It was less stressful to cut the rest of it. After around ten minutes all of the pieces were cut. He took off the rubber bands and revealed a disaster.</p><p> </p><p>All of the ends at the back of his head were uneven and there was a long strand that he missed in the back. His bangs were still way too long and the sides were even longer. He looked at his own face blankly and sighed. "Ugh…"</p><p> </p><p>He fixed it as best he could. By now the ends were even at least, but it was shorter than he wanted and his bangs were still very fucked up. He just decided to clip them behind his ears and it ended up looking fine. It was a little shorter than he wanted though. He'd just have to live with it for a while until he could get it cut again.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey Cody, we're home- oh?" Charlie had walked into his room to talk. Cody turned around and gave him a "wtf?" look. "You cut it?" He asked. "Yep. I got bored of it." Cody replied. "Oh okay." Charlie said. "Anyway, I came to tell you that we're going to go to dinner at the Min's house tomorrow night." He said. Cody froze. "Oh okay." He replied, looking away from him. "That's it, I'll be in the living room." He said, shutting the door.</p><p> </p><p>Cody held his head in his hands and groaned. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I wanted space and now I have to go over there? This is so unfair. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He unclipped his bangs and put them in a short ponytail on top of his head. The clips were starting to get annoying. He laid on his bed and sighed. Then he heard his phone go off. He frowned and rolled his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What is it now?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He looked at his alerts and saw a text from Seojun. He almost decided not to read it, but he was curious so he looked anyway.</p><p> </p><p>/Sorry, I know you don't want to talk to me, but I wanted to actually tell you the truth about me. Any chance you could hear me out?</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm really excited to finally get into the Min's story! Just hang on a little bit longer though.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. I have to tell him</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Takes place the same day as the end of chapter 27.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seojun had been mopey pretty much the whole week. Going on walks just didn't feel the same anymore. Sure, he had people that he could trust, but this one felt different. He always wanted to be closer to him, show him his world and make sure he was okay. But it's likely that would never happen, now that Cody was giving him the cold shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>It was Sunday now. It was a dreary and rainy day which really tore up his mood. He decided to just take a nap and wait out the storm. He didn't care much for rain on earth, it made him tired. As he drifted off to sleep, he felt more peaceful than he had in a while.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Seojun stood in front of the shore. The wind blew through his hair as he breathed in the salty air. He felt that unsettling feeling of someone staring at him. He looked over and saw Cody standing next to him with a smile on his face. “What?” Seojun asked. Cody smiled harder. “Nothing.” He said mischievously. Seojun raised his eyebrow at him. “Okay?” He said.</em>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>He realized that he wasn’t wearing a compression patch and did a double take. Cody was still smiling up at him. “You’re not scared of me?” He asked. Cody looked confused. “Why would I be scared of you?” He asked. Seojun chuckled. “Don’t worry about it.” He said. Cody pulled him closer by his shirt collar and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re so sweet.” He said. Seojun looked away from his eyes. “You’re just saying stuff now.” He mumbled. Cody giggled and poked Seojun’s dimple. Seojun rolled his eyes and hugged him close.</em>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>After that, Seojun woke up. He quickly realized that it was a dream. Dreams and visions feel very differently. Dreams are effortless and half of the time you don’t even remember them. Visions take a toll on your mind and while they’re not always coherent, they stick with you until the event actually happens.</p><p> </p><p>He fake gagged in response. What was he thinking about that for? He was just trying to sleep. His mind flashed back to all of the other visios he had had. “Wait a minute.” He muttered. His eyes shot open and he realized…</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh, I’ve never thought of any of my other friends like that.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He held his head in his hands and folded his lips in his mouth. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I am so fucking stupid. How did I just not notice? How?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>How long had he even liked him? Did Cody know? Did Cody like him back? Was he going to tell him?</p><p> </p><p>After he felt like he was going to explode from this sudden realization, he decided that he had to spit it out to somebody. Unfortunately Kerchek was at work, so he decided to go for his next oldest sibling. Vashti.</p><p> </p><p>Vashti was blunt and irritable. She was someone you went to when you wanted the truth or if you wanted to be put to sleep. He stalked through the house and found her room door wide open. "Figures." He muttered. If she wasn't here, he could talk to Vileah, but she was hyperactive and a terrible listener. He wasn't about to give up on Vashti yet. He decided to look for her in the yard and found her sitting by the firepit. He walked up to her and she looked at him with disdain. “Hi.” He said softly. “What’s up kid?” She asked, giving him a head nod and shifting her sitting position.</p><p> </p><p>Vashti was a tall girl with long golden brown locs in a big lopsided bun on top of her head, brown skin on the lighter side and big black eyes with monolids. She was slim and sat leaning forward with her legs open.</p><p> </p><p>“Um, can I talk to you?” He asked. She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Talk away Ju-Ju.” She replied. Seojun sat down on the log across from her. “So, you know the guy I had visions about recently?” He asked. She clicked her tongue. “That one human kid?” She asked. “Why does everyone ask that? And yes.” He said. She nodded. “Yeah I kinda know who you’re talking about.” She said. “Kinda?” He asked. “Well I’ve never actually met him, just heard about him from you and the other kids.” She replied. (Other kids meaning their siblings.)</p><p> </p><p> “Oh yeah.” he said. “Um anyway. So I was just thinking today, well I thought about him a lot recently because he doesn’t really wanna see me right now.” Vashti listened surprisingly closely and nodded along with his words. “I want him to trust me, but I realized I want it a lot more than I thought I did. Not just in a best friend way but like something stronger.” He paused. “I think I like him.” He said. Hearing himself say that made it feel all the more real. His face immediately heated up after he admitted that. He looked at Vashti for her reaction. </p><p> </p><p>Vashiti clicked her lighter and looked at him like he was an idiot. “Congratulations dipshit, you’re officially the last one to know.” She said harshly.</p><p>“Ouch.” He said. He pointed at the lighter in confusion. “Why do you have that?” He asked.</p><p>She gave him a mean look. “If you even try to tell mam about this I’ll fucking wipe you out.” She said.</p><p>“....I wasn’t going to, I was just asking.” He murmured.</p><p>She opened her eyes wide and clicked it again. “Oh, then I guess we’re cool.” She said.</p><p>“You’re mean.” He said.</p><p>“You say that like it’s something I don’t know, Seojun.” She replied slyly.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked at her with wide eyes and fidgeted with his hands. “I know Kerchek already told you this, but if you want him to trust you you gotta tell him the truth.” She clicked her lighter again. “Not only that, but you can’t force him to trust you or like you back in that way if he doesn’t. Just be patient and let him come to you if he wants.” She advised.</p><p> </p><p>He sighed. “But I really want to talk to him again now.” He said. “I know. You can ask him to talk again if you want, but if he tells you no, just take it.” She said. “What if he doesn’t want to talk to me ever again?” He asked, hugging his knees close to his body. She shrugged. "Then that's his loss. You should stick with people that actually want you around." She replied. Seojun nodded. "Okay, thanks Vashti." He said. She nodded. "You're welcome. Now go away." She said. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun chuckled and backed away "Okay, okay. I'm leaving." He said. "Good. And I better not hear about anymore drama for at least a week." She said. "I'll try!" He said.</p><p> </p><p>Now that he'd talked to her despite her attitude at some points, he felt a lot better. He walked back up to his room. All he had to do now was gather his thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>As detailed as he could get them, he took the time to write down his truth on paper. When he was done it was two hours later and 8:42 at night. "I hope it's not too late." He said to himself. Nervously he texted Cody.</p><p> </p><p>/Sorry, I know you don't want to talk to me, but I wanted to actually tell you the truth about me. Any chance you could hear me out?</p><p> </p><p>He hit send. Now all he had to do was wait for a response.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>To be clear, Seojun did have an idea of the future, but he was just sure that they were really close. Also due to the fact that he doesn't know human relationship customs very well, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with Cody in his visions.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Tell the story</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts in italics.</p><p>For texting.<br/>/Seojun<br/>(Cody</p><p>Short because I didn't want to put this and the actual story in one chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody looked at his phone. He had wanted to hear the truth, but did he want to hear it now? He paused to think and decided. Sure, why not? He had nothing else to do right now.</p><p> </p><p>(Sure, but we can't go walking since my leg's broken. I'll let you in through my window.</p><p> </p><p>/Okay, give me about twenty minutes.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun cheered silently and started getting dressed with a little happy dance. He put on grey sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and a black hoodie (and a compression patch).</p><p> </p><p>He grabbed the notebook he wrote his stuff down in and was about to leave when he heard Kerchek walking through the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>He peeked out the door and followed him down the hallway. "Hey, wait a second." He whispered. Kerchek squinted tiredly at him. "What?" He asked. "I'm going to tell Cody about everything, is there anything from your past that you want me to leave out? I don't wanna out you or anything." He asked. Kerchek thought for a moment. "Nah you're good. You can tell him." He said. Seojun smiled and gave him a hug. "Thanks Kerry!" He said, running off downstairs. Kerchek was stunned, but shook his head with a little smile. "Yeah, sure kid." He replied. </p><p> </p><p>From his bedroom Kamina started to cry, she's been woken up by their talking. "I'm coming." He said gently, walking into his room. He held her close to him. Seojun asking had him thinking of how they got here in the first place. "I really wish Ben was here with us." He said sorrowfully.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun left through the back door and put on his hood. He was pretty nervous. Hopefully everything would be okay. He wanted to keep his friend after all.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Now that I'm telling him everything do I tell him I like him? Nah, it's too soon, I just found that out. What'd Kerchek call it? Right, baby steps. Baby steps Seojun.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He walked over to the firehouse and remembered that he didn't know where to go.</p><p> </p><p>/Wait, where's your window?</p><p> </p><p>(I'll turn the lights on and off so you can see it.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked back up to the firehouse and saw a window "blinking" on the side on the second floor.</p><p>He looked for people outside and walked over to the house.</p><p> </p><p>He climbed up the fire escape and knocked on the window. Cody opened the window and and overestimated where he was. They paused, right in front of each other's faces. Cody blushed. "Oh, sorry." He said. "Nah, you're fine." Seojun said casually. </p><p> </p><p>They paused awkwardly again. They hadn't spoken in a while and now that they were, they weren't sure what to say to each other. Seojun looked up and almost jumped back. "Um, your hair?" He said in shock. "Shut up, don't even talk about it!" Cody said harshly. As soon as he did, he quickly covered his mouth like he was shocked at his own words. Seojun looked at him with wide eyes of surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that, I had a pretty rough week." He said. Seojun chuckled and shook his head. "So are you gonna let me in?" He asked.</p><p> </p><p>Cody smiled back and nodded. He opened the window wider. "Come on." He said, motioning for Seojun to follow him.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun quietly stepped into the room and closed the window behind him. It was smaller than he expected, but then again everything that humans lived in looked small to him. He awkwardly put his hands in his pockets. "Nice room." He said. "Thanks." Cody replied. Cody sat on the edge of his bed and Seojun sat on the chair in front of Cody's mirror.</p><p> </p><p>"So, I wrote what I needed down. Where should I start?" He asked. Cody thought for a second. "Just start from the beginning, I wanna know all the details." He said. Seojun nodded and turned to the beginning. "Okay. That's cool." He replied.</p><p> </p><p>"Listen closely okay." Cody nodded. "I will, just start the story." He said enthusiastically. Seojun chuckled. "Okay okay, don't rush me." He said.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Origins: Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>While I was writing this I realized that the origin story is long and super messy, so I had to split it up. I hope y'all don't mind.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, here goes.” Seojun said shakily. “My family’s story starts on the planet of Arsinia where we’re from. My people are called Nyumals. Most of us have individual powers and we are about 1.5 times bigger than humans are and stronger too. Our planet also has a common language called Aresage that everyone speaks, and different home languages depending on where you go.” He started. Cody listened closely. He had thought of him having some kind of strange ability, but for some reason the thought of him being an alien never crossed his mind. He just seemed so human. Seojun looked up at him for his reaction and continued, feeling somewhat reassured by his expression. </p><p> </p><p>“My family comes from the continent Golah, where people mostly look at you for who you have connections to. Your family, your clan, and on my mother’s side of the family, your dynasty.” He said. “There are fourteen clans in Golah. The Yunamis, Itarihs, Hitamis, Sirkans, Nurmans, Jungas, Umars, Wimahs, Deamers, Onakis, Zunagis, Emaris, Aimakis, and the Comals. Then there are nine dynasties on the planet, one for each continent. The Ains, the Yuns, the Huns, the Cors, the Errs, the Nuds, the Poms, the Gujs, and the Mins.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody scooted closer to the edge of his bed and leaned against the foot of it. “My Grandfather is Hojong Min, the Kodono or King of Golah, and My grandmother Yuna is from the Itarih clan, the second most powerful clan in Golah.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“Wait a minute, wait a minute, so what you’re saying is you’re a prince?” He asked. Seojun scratched his head uncomfortably, “Yeah, I guess so, it’s complicated though.” He said. “Why?” Cody asked. “Lots of reasons. I’ve never been to the palace, my grandfather denounced my mother, and because of who my father is.” He said. Cody nodded. “Oh. Well, tell me more.” He said enthusiastically.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun nodded and continued. “My mam was basically set for life, sheltered, and very privileged. She barely knew anything about the world around her, all she did know was that she was her father’s least favorite. She was the youngest, and not part of my family’s power line.” He explained. “Power line?” Cody asked curiously. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun nodded. “Yeah, the Min dynasty has a sort of mythology that started since the first of us came to power.” He said. “The Lylu and the Pakka. The Lylu is a sort of deity, they have extreme power over minds. They can control them, read them, and relax them. They can also see the memories of past Lylu to help them.” He said. “The Pakka is a beast. They have a second form, they grow taller by half of their height, their strength and senses are heightened, but they are less coherent in that form as they have less control over their own mind. They learn to control it better with time.” He explained. </p><p> </p><p>“My mother was just a regular Nyumal child. My aunt Hina was four years older than her and was the Lylu, My uncle Umbatu was two years older than her and was the Pakka. They got along well, but mam always felt anxious at home. A lot of the time, she was on Earth visiting my Great-grandmother in South Korea.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>It was like a lightbulb lit up above Cody’s head. “So that’s why you said you’re from there?” Cody asked. Seojun nodded. “Yeah. It was also the first place I’ve ever been on earth, but I’ll get into that more later.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>“When My mam was eighteen, my grandfather married her off to a member of the Hitami clan, Josei. He was ten years older than her, and she didn’t want to do it, but she wanted her fathers approval, so she did. She had my quadruplet siblings when she was twenty. Their dad didn’t contribute much at all. He was always out at work or in the middle of the night, and three years into their marriage, she found out that he wasn’t working most of the time, he was with other women and he had five other children. After finding out, she left my siblings with my uncle and ran away to my great grandmother.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“She went out late one night and got caught in the middle of a bar fight where she ended up meeting my father. He pulled her out of the bar and she said that the first thing he said to her was “You’re Nyumal, aren’t you?” Aresage.” Seojun rolled his eyes at that last sentence. “Why?” He muttered. “My father’s name was Ennui Lim and he was fully Nyumal, but from Charleston, South Carolina. He’s from a distant branch of the Comal clan, the lowest ranked in Golah. His family had come to Earth in 1643 and got caught in a lot of mess that I don't want to get into." He made a face at that.</p><p> </p><p>"Anyway, they spent a lot of time together. My mam didn’t think too highly of him at first, she was taught by her father that the lower clans were thugs, thieves, and uncivilized, especially earth-born ones. My father changed her opinion and kept her laughing. She loved spending time with him, but eventually she left to go home and didn’t say goodbye to him. She was scared that she wouldn’t be able to leave if she saw him again.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“What happens next?” Cody asked curiously. Seojun smiled. “Hold on, I’m getting to that.” He said. Cody giggled at him. Seojun shook his head and looked back at his notebook.</p><p> </p><p>“Moving on, she finds out a few months later that she’s pregnant with me, and my siblings dad was super angry, despite also being a cheater." Seojun made a sour face at that. "So she goes back to earth to escape him and find my dad. She didn’t have his number or anything, so it was tough. My great grandmother ended up using her powers to track him down and find him. He was actually in Arsinia and she was able to catch up with him. He was really confused at first, but he listened to her situation and he was just like “Well, you can just stay with my family.” So my mom went with him.” He explained. </p><p> </p><p>“Wow! You guys have been through a lot.” Cody said. “Yeah, sorry I’ve been talking so much, but you did say you wanted to know everything.” Seojun pointed out mischievously. “That’s true, but I’ve got all night.” Cody joked. “Do you? Because I’m pretty sure it’s morning now.” Seojun said. “What! What do you mean it’s morning?” Cody shouted. He looked at his phone and saw that it was 1:33 in the morning. “Aw man.” Cody groaned. Seojun laughed. “Oops?” He said. “At least you don’t have to go to school yet.” Cody nodded. “Yeah, I guess.” He muttered.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. They jumped in surprise, Cody whipped his head around towards Seojun. “Hide!” He whispered. Seojun scampered into the closet and shut the door. “Cody?” Kade asked. “Yeah?” Cody replied. “Are you talking to someone?” He asked as he opened the door. “No, I’m just watching a video.” Cody lied. “Oh okay, well could you keep it down? I’m trying to sleep.” He said. “Oh okay, sorry.” Cody said. He froze and listened to Kade walk away. He untensed as soon as he heard him shut his bedroom door. “Okay, you can come out now.” He said to Seojun. Seojun peaked out of the closet “Is he gone?” He whispered. “Yeah, he’s gone.” Cody assured him.</p><p> </p><p>“I wanted to finish everything tonight, but since it’s so late I’ve got to get home. Can we talk more later?” Seojun asked. “Yeah sure.” Cody said. “Sorry I didn't tell you all this earlier, I'd kinda convinced myself that you wouldn't want to be friends anymore if you knew. I’m surprised you’re so unfazed about me being an alien.” Seojun said. “It’s fine. I’ve got people I consider family that are aliens so it’s no- ooh!” He swiftly covered his mouth. “Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Do Cybertroians even get along with Arsinians?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun chuckled. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you any of this either.” He replied. “Is it those rescue bots you guys have by chance?” He asked. Cody nodded. “Yeah, how’d you know?” He asked. “I could see them switching up between my family and everybody else, plus I saw them looking through the window at the hospital when I was there. They’re kind of obvious.” Seojun said. “Oh. Does your family know?” He asked. Seojun shrugged. “Other than me, I don’t know if anybody else knows.” He said. “Oh okay.”</p><p> </p><p>Seojun opened the window and put one leg out. “I’ll tell you more when you come to my house later.” He said. “Okay.” Cody agreed. “Hey Seojun?” He asked. “Yeah?” Seojun replied. “Could you show me what you actually look like?” Cody asked. Seojun raised his right eyebrow. “Huh?” “You said Arsinians are 1.5 times bigger than humans.” He said. Seojun smiled. “Maybe, but not now. I Wouldn’t fit in your house.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody giggled. “Okay, goodnight Seojun.” He said. Seojun gave him a head nod. “Goodnight Blondie.” He said with a mischievous grin, exiting the window. Cody made a sour face. “Seriously?” He said. Seojun laughed as he went down the fire escape and Cody watched as he walked down the street. He sighed and shut his bedroom window. He flopped back onto his bed. He actually felt relaxed enough to get some sleep. He curled up under the covers and went to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Also, just little doodles for this chapter. I'm still an amateur artist, so I use this story as an opportunity to practice. Be nice please. 🙂</p><p>https://twitter.com/Kurpluckle/status/1391913663343255563?s=19</p><p>https://twitter.com/Kurpluckle/status/1391913675460681729?s=19</p><p>Should I start a tiktok account for updates and stuff for this?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. A day out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thought in italics.</p><p>When texting<br/>(Cody<br/>_Frankie<br/>/Seojun</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody woke up at 7 in the morning. He was still exhausted, but this was the least tired he had been the entire month. His head throbbed a little as he sat up, but he shook it off and hopped to the bathroom.</p><p> </p><p>He quickly learned that his impromptu haircut was all for naught. His hair was back to being just past his shoulders and was very messy. He brushed it out of his face with his fingers and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were swollen, red, and tired, his nose and cheeks had a red tinge to them, and overall he just looked as horrible as he felt. He sighed, pushed his hair back over his face, and hopped back to his room.</p><p> </p><p>He had only woken up once out of his sleep at three, much better than what he had started to get used to. There was also only one nightmare, so the rest of his sleep was relatively peaceful.</p><p> </p><p>He curled back up under his covers. He turned on his phone and started watching YouTube videos when Frankie texted him.</p><p> </p><p>_Hey Cody, when are you coming back to school?</p><p> </p><p>(Next Monday.</p><p> </p><p>_Aww. I thought it was this week.</p><p> </p><p>(Nope. :D</p><p> </p><p>_Rude, come back already man.</p><p> </p><p>(No can do Frankie. I like being at home.</p><p> </p><p>_Seojun misses you. 😌</p><p> </p><p>Cody frowned at that text in confusion.</p><p> </p><p>(?</p><p>(What?</p><p> </p><p>_He doesn’t really say anything, but I can tell. Dude is totally stuck on you.</p><p> </p><p>(-_- </p><p>(Don’t give me hope Frankie.</p><p> </p><p>_Okay, but why don’t you just ask him out already?</p><p> </p><p>(I’m not really focused on that right now.</p><p>(Why don’t you ask Priscilla out already?</p><p> </p><p>_Actually I did.</p><p> </p><p>(Wait for real?</p><p> </p><p>_Yeah.</p><p>_I asked her at the beach before that storm happened.</p><p>_We’re going out this Friday.</p><p> </p><p>(Lucky…</p><p> </p><p>_If you worked up the nerve, you’d at least know what he thinks of you.</p><p> </p><p>(I know, but I’m not going to because I don’t wanna risk it.</p><p> </p><p>_Aw come on, you take risks with like everything else. Just do it!</p><p> </p><p>(I will, just not now.</p><p> </p><p>_You make this so difficult</p><p> </p><p>(I’m so sorry that this is so hard for you to watch Frankie.</p><p> </p><p>_Lol</p><p>_I gotta get to school, see you later Cody!</p><p> </p><p>(Yeah bye.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Cody flipped over on his back and sighed. He screamed with his mouth closed and punched at the ceiling. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Stupid! This is so unfair! Ugh!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Cody?” Graham called through the door.</p><p>“Yeah?” Cody responded.</p><p>“Are you up?” He asked.</p><p>“No.” Cody joked.</p><p>“Seriously?” Graham said. Cody could almost hear him rolling his eyes on the other side of the door. Cody laughed at his reaction.</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, do you wanna spend the day with the team? You should probably get out of the house for once.” Graham suggested.</p><p>Cody sighed and rolled his eyes. “Sure okay.” He said. He really would rather stay in bed all day, but he’d just be bored. Being bored was the worst.</p><p>“Okay, get ready. We’re heading out in about half an hour.” Graham said.</p><p>“Yeah okay.” Cody said through the door.</p><p> </p><p>Cody brushed out his hair in front of the mirror.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I guess I do look kind of good with long hair.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He pulled it into a low ponytail and kept his bangs out. Then he put on a long sleeve sky blue sweater over a white button down shirt and popped the collar, medium blue jeans, a black belt, and one of his white vans since he still had his cast on.</p><p> </p><p>He hopped over to his crutches and carefully hopped down the stairs. The kitchen was empty, so his family was already probably in the bunker. He sighed in exasperation and hobbled to the elevator. At least he didn’t have to walk down there.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Cody.” Dani said to him as he walked out of the elevator. Charlie gave him a funny look, but didn’t say anything. “So, who are you riding with?” Kade asked. Cody looked at all of them before he made his choice. “I think I’ll ride with Graham.” He said. Graham smiled. “Alright, let’s go!” Graham said enthusiastically. Graham’s contagious smile passed on to Cody, and he felt just a little bit better as he hopped over to Graham and Boulder. </p><p> </p><p>“Glad you chose the best team.” Graham joked. “Hey!” Kade said, taking offense. “Really Graham?” Dani said, shaking her head. Graham just laughed them off. “It’s good to have you with us Cody. I haven't seen much of you all week.” Boulder said. “Oh yeah. I really haven’t been out much have I?” Cody said. “No wonder you look so pasty.” Kade commented. Cody resisted the urge to flip him off and stuck his tongue out at him instead. “Alright folks, let’s head out. We’ve got work to do.” Charlie said, climbing into Chase’s cab.</p><p> </p><p>Graham nodded his head towards Boulder. “Come on Cody.” He said, opening the driver’s seat door. “You need any help getting in the car?” He asked. Cody shook his head. “No, I’ve got it.” He said, hobbling over to the passenger’s side. “Okay.” Graham said, shutting the car door. As soon as Cody shut his door, they were out of the bunker.</p><p> </p><p>The ride was smooth and Graham and Boulder spent the time talking about the weather and the garden. “So what are we doing today?” Cody asked. “Today we’re checking out the new supply shed that’s being built.” Graham said. “We have that?” Cody asked in surprise. Graham shrugged with a cheerful smile. “You missed a few things while you were out.” He said. “Yeah, I guess so.” Cody replied. </p><p> </p><p>They pulled up to the construction site. Lots of people were moving around, doing various tasks. Graham handed Cody a hard hat. “You’ll need this if you wanna get out.” He said. Cody took it and put it on his head.</p><p> </p><p>While Graham and Boulder did their thing. Cody hopped around the perimeter of the site, watching the work go on. “Watch out.” Cody looked just in time and moved out of the way as two steel beams narrowly missed his face. “Oh sorry, I kind zoned out.” Cody said. The man turned around and faced him. “Yeah, this isn’t really a good place to do that.” He said. Cody didn’t recognize him at first because of the gear that he had on, but after looking at him for a moment he realized that it was Seojun’s older brother. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh hey! It’s Kerchek right?” Cody said. Kerchek raised his eyebrow at him and curled his lip slightly. “Yeah. Hi.” He said stiffly. Cody paused, Seojun had said he was bad at introductions when they first met, but this one felt even more awkward than the last one.</p><p> </p><p>After a moment of silence, Kerchek spoke up again. “What are you doin’ here anyway kid?” He asked. “My brother’s an engineer and I tagged along with him to check the place out.” Cody responded. Kerchek nodded. “Oh, okay cool. I’m headed out. Don’t get into trouble.” Kerchek said, turning away. “I won’t.” Cody said. Kerchek nodded and waved with his left hand as he walked away.</p><p> </p><p>Cody hadn’t thought about him while he was talking, but he quickly realized something odd.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>How is he carrying two steel beams on his shoulder?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Cody shook it off and started walking away. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Must have something to do with him being an alien. Maybe I’ll ask Seojun about it later.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He looked around the site some more and made small talk with the workers there. It was pretty cool to him. After about an hour Graham called him over his comlink. “Hey Cody, Boulder and I are done here. We’re about to go.” He said. “Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.” Cody replied.</p><p> </p><p>Cody hopped back to the front of the lot as quickly as he could to get back to Boulder and Graham. When he got close he heard laughing. “Huh?” He muttered. When he turned the corner he saw Graham rambling off to Kerchek about something. Kerchek nodded along with him with his arms folded over his chest. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>They know each other?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Before he noticed Cody was there he said goodbye and walked off to do something else.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, I’m back.” Cody said as he hopped over to his brother. “Okay, let’s go guys.”</p><p> </p><p>Cody face palmed. Wow, we really are obvious. How did the whole town not know the bots were aliens earlier?</p><p> </p><p>Cody got into Boulder’s cab. “So what’d you think?” Graham asked. “It’s cool.” Cody said. “Thanks. Boulder and I designed it!” Graham said. “Oh okay.” Cody replied. “Are we doing anything else?” He asked. “We’re going to check the pipes by the library, and the bridge. That’s about it. We’ll be coming back around two.” Graham said. “Okay, sound’s good.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the trip was pretty boring. Cody was also pretty tired from using his crutches so much, so by the time they got to the bridge he was very much ready to go home. He felt more exhausted than he had before they left. As much as he wanted to take a nap in the car, he didn’t want to risk having bad dreams so he forced himself to stay awake on the way home.</p><p> </p><p>When they parked in the bunker Cody was half asleep and just barely heard Graham say. “Hey, Cody could you pass me my phone?” Cody passed him his phone which had been on the charger and saw the caller I.D. “Who’s K?” Cody asked. “Nobody.” Graham answered quickly. Cody gave him a look that clearly said he didn’t believe that and got out of the car. “Sure…” He said mischievously. “Shut up.” Graham said with a light chuckle</p><p> </p><p>Cody hopped up to his room and immediately changed back into his pajamas. He flopped on his bed and looked at his phone. Seojun had texted him about an hour ago.</p><p> </p><p>/Hey, I forgot to ask last night since I wasn’t sure how to, but we’re still friends right?</p><p> </p><p>Cody chuckled. <em>What a goof.</em></p><p> </p><p>(Yeah, we’re friends.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Cody doodle for this chapter. </p><p>https://twitter.com/Kurpluckle/status/1392556187086958593?s=19</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. The Min household</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts in italics.</p><p>Italics + underline means they're speaking in Aresage.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody killed almost three hours of freetime by crawling around the house (despite the strange looks from his family) and watching videos. After that he took a shower and looked for something else to wear. He stood in front of his closet in a pair of basketball shorts and looked over everything. “I really need new clothes.” He muttered, running his hands through his damp hair. “Or I could steal Frankie’s stuff.” He added, half-joking.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually he picked a green hoodie, black jeans, and a white sneaker. All of which he had to dig out of the closet since he barely ever wore this stuff before.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I’m really tired of having a broken leg.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He blow dried his hair and clipped his bangs back behind his ears, leaving the rest down. He noticed his hair had gotten a little wavier too. He couldn’t help but flip it back and forth in the mirror, it was just so nice!</p><p> </p><p>After he was satisfied he grabbed his phone and hopped downstairs with his crutches. Everyone else had also put a little more effort into their looks too. First impressions do matter, but it was kind of weird that Cody still hadn’t met everybody yet. Maybe they were just homebodies.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you ready to go?” Charlie asked. “Yeah, let’s go.” Cody said enthusiastically. He rode with Charlie and Chase this time around. He looked out of the window with excitement the entire time as they got closer to the house. He had never been over there before, so he was curious to see what it looked like.</p><p> </p><p>“You seem excited Cody.” Charlie commented. “You’ve been grinning the entire time.” Cody realized that his face was starting to become sore and tried to relax. “Oh, I guess I have been.” He said. Relaxing didn’t work, he just ended up smiling harder. Charlie smiled back at him. “It’s nice that you have a new friend. I forgot how isolated we are on this island sometimes.” He said. “Yeah, but it’s fine I’m used to it. Plus something crazy is always happening, so I never really have time to think about it.” He said. Charlie nodded. “True.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody went back to staring out of the window. They were deep in the woods now and the area was pretty uneven, but Cody was too hyped up to care about the constant bumping around.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, we’re here.” Chase said. Cody looked up at the house. It was huge, and a little bit eerie on the outside. It was wooden and brown with a black shingled roof and a chimney. Everything about it was huge. The yard was vast and clear, and there was a treehouse nearby with a swing set under it with another in the far right side of the front yard. “Cool.” Cody said. Charlie got out of the car first and Cody followed along with his siblings. Charlie rang the doorbell and as soon as he did, they heard rapid footsteps that sounded more like knocking from the other side of the door.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah! Ju-Ju!” Someone yelped.</p><p><span class="u"><em>“Komai!”</em></span> Seojun shouted frantically.</p><p> </p><p>Multiple locks were turned and after a loud creaking sound, the door finally opened. Seojun busted through the door and almost bumped right into Charlie. He tripped, but quickly stopped himself by holding onto the door frame. Cody choked back a laugh and Seojun stood back up awkwardly. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were so close.” He said with a big smile. </p><p> </p><p>His hair was loose and covering his eyes, and he wore a white tank top with red basketball shorts, white socks, and black slides.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry about it, you’re fine.” Charlie said. Seojun nodded. “Any chance you’ll let us in?” Kade asked with a little snark. “Oh right, I almost forgot about that.” Seojun said. He opened the door all the way and stepped aside. “Come on in!” He said. He backed up without looking and stepped on Lee’s hand. “Aw! Come on man!” He whined. “Sorry!” Seojun said in a panicky tone.</p><p> </p><p>Namseon came in from around the corner. Holding Eloho in her arms. “Welcome to our home. Sorry my husband couldn’t make it, he’s working overseas.” She said cheerfully. “Don’t worry about it. That’s fine. Tell him that we wish him well.” Charlie said. Namseon nodded. “I’ll pass your message along to him.” Gradually, Charlie and Dani followed Namseon, Kade went to find the bathroom, and Graham had walked off somewhere while no one was looking.</p><p> </p><p>Cody hopped over to him with a mischievous smile. “Smooth introduction.” He joked. Seojun scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Shut up.” He said. Cody just laughed. “Come on, lemme show you around.” Seojun said, motioning for Cody to follow him. “Okay!” Cody said, hopping close behind him. “This is the living room. “ He said, gesturing to the entire room. Cody noticed that the house was very tall, way taller than any human would need it to be. The couch was at the front of the room, close to the TV. Two people were sitting on the couch, watching cartoons. “Guys.” Seojun said. The two kids turned around and looked at them with wide eyes. “This is my brother Kyree, and my sister Jiwoo.” Seojun said. </p><p> </p><p>Kyree was a kid with curly golden hair with brown roots on top of his head and an undercut, big brown eyes, and brown skin. At the moment, he was stuffing his face with popcorn and wouldn’t blink. Jiwoo had long black hair in ringlets, small violet eyes so dark they appeared black eyes, very light brown skin with freckles across her face, and big pink lips. She was chewing gum with her mouth open.</p><p> </p><p>“Hi.” Cody said, giving them a little wave. They looked at each other and snickered. Cody looked up at Seojun, who sighed and scowled at them. “Really?” He said.</p><p> </p><p><span class="u"><em>“I Can’t help it, he’s so tiny!”</em></span> Kyree wheezed. Jiwoo nodded in agreement. <span class="u"><em>“And pale, is he okay?”</em></span> Jiwoo asked. Seojun sighed with exasperation. <span class="u"><em>“Just because he can’t understand you, doesn’t mean you can talk shit. Be nice.”</em></span> He said. Kyree rolled his eyes. “Fine.” Jiwoo said.</p><p> </p><p>“Um, what are you guys talking about?” Cody asked nervously. Seojun looked at Kyree and Jiwoo and they looked at each other. Jiwoo took the lead. “We were just saying, how nice your hair is.” She lied. Kyree nodded. Cody blushed and stroked his hair shyly. “Thanks.” He said. Kyree nodded. “Sure no problem.” He said. Seojun rolled his eyes and started walking off. “Come on, let’s go.” He said sourly. “Okay.” Cody replied, following close behind.</p><p> </p><p>“This is the kitchen..” Seojun said without stopping. “Hi kids.” Namseon said gleefully as she stirred a pot. Kamina gurgled at them with a big smile on her face. “Hey.” Cody said. “Can I get a taste?” Kade asked. Namseon smiled brightly. “Sure you can, at dinnertime. Mina here is already my little taste tester.” She said. Kamina laughed and slammed her hands down on her high chair. Cody shook his head and caught up with Seojun.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun briefly showed him the second floor, where all of the rooms were, and then they went to the game room, where it seemed like a few more of Seojun’s siblings had been hiding out.</p><p> </p><p>Four teenagers were sitting around a table playing go fish. Only one of them looked up when they opened the door. “Hey guys.” Seojun said. The rest of them turned around at that. “Oh hey.” One of them said. “These guys are older than me too.” Seojun explained.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh, they’re probably the quadruplets.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“I’m Vileah! The rest of them are Vashti, Vitanya, and Vidalia.” one of the girls said. Vidalia sunk into her chair a little bit at the mention of her name.</p><p> </p><p>Vileah had long curly golden-brown hair that was a little frizzy, blue eyes, light brown skin, and big white teeth. Vashti had golden brown hair in locs that were down to her waist, light brown skin, and big black eyes. She gave them a head nod as a greeting. Vitanya had dark brown coily hair in a slicked back puff with his edges laid, big golden eyes, brown skin, and braces. “Hey what’s up?” They said. And Vidalia had medium brown loose curly hair down to her mid back, brown skin, and reddish-brown eyes. She smiled shyly at them.</p><p> </p><p>“Nice to meet you.” Cody said. “Same here. What’s your name?” Vitanya said. “Cody Burns.” He replied. “Cool.” Vashti said. “So are you-” Vitanya started, but he froze as soon as Vashti gave him a cold look. That spooked Cody a little bit. “Anyway, what do you think of the place?” She said as Vashti unfroze and she went back to looking at her cards. “It’s pretty cool, and a lot bigger than I thought it would be.” Cody said. </p><p> </p><p>“Well there are fifteen of us living here right now, it’d suck if it were any smaller.” Vileah explained. “There are fifteen of you here?” Cody asked in astonishment. Vidalia nodded. “Yeah, we have a pretty big family.” Seojun said nonchalantly. “Wow.” Cody said. “mm-hm .” Seojun hummed. “Come on, let’s go.” He said. “Ugh. More walking?” Cody complained. “Yeah, I’m showing you my room.” Seojun said. “Okay cool.” Cody said, a little more enthusiastically.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun’s room was on the third floor and at the end of the hallway. He opened the door with a dramatic gesture. “Here it is.” He said. Cody hopped into his room and looked around. It was huge like the rest of the house. There was a bay window beside his bed with a navy blue chair under it and light blue and white pillows. His bed was also way bigger than any human would need, at least twelve feet long from what he could tell, the carpet was soft and beige, and the ceiling was sloped. There was a bookshelf beside his bed with a lot of books and was split close to the bottom with a white desk and a lamp under it. On the right side of his room was another door which led to a bathroom, and a large dresser and a closet nearby.</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned back to Seojun with a smile. “Lucky! You have your own bathroom?” He exclaimed. Seojun laughed heartily. “Really? That’s the first thing you say?” He asked. Cody shrugged. “Priorities I guess.” Cody said with a shrug. Seojun chuckled and shook his head. He walked away with his hands in his pockets and sat on his bed. Cody sat at the desk and turned towards him. </p><p> </p><p>“Does your family know that I know about you guys being aliens?” Cody asked. Seojun scratched his head. “Um, Kerchek and Vashti know, but I don’t think anybody else does.” Seojun said. “I didn’t talk to anybody else about telling you.” He said. “Oh. Is that okay?” Cody asked. Seojun shrugged. “Eh. My mam wanted us to stay quiet about it for safety reasons, but you’re cool so it’s probably fine.” He said.</p><p> </p><p> Cody nodded. “Is your dad really overseas?” He asked. “No, but I’ll explain that later. I haven’t gotten to that part of the story yet.” Seojun replied. “Okay, could you tell me more now then?” Cody asked. Seojun smiled a little. “Yeah sure just-” “Kid’s dinner’s ready! Come downstairs!” Namseon called. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun looked at Cody and chuckled. “I guess I’ll just tell you later.” He said. “Aw man.” Cody muttered. Seojun shook his head. “Come on, let’s go.” He said. Cody hopped after him on his crutches. “How many times are you gonna say that today?” He asked. “Come on, let’s go.” He repeated with a big grin. Cody gave him a blank look. “Really Seojun?” He said. Seojun laughed and kept walking ahead of him. Cody shook his head at him and followed.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. Dinnertime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts in italics of course.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they got down to the dining room almost everybody was there. Namseon was at the head of the table with Kerchek beside her and Kamina in between them in her highchair. Graham sat diagonal to Kerchek with Charlie on his left. The quadruplets were lined up on the other side of Kerchek and Dani was beside them, Kade sat beside Graham, and Jiwoo and Kyree were beside him. Seojun took the seat next to Kyree and Cody sat beside him. As soon as they sat down, the youngest five kids ran into the dining room, nearly trampling each other. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun rolled his eyes at them. “Lucky for us, they sit at the kid’s end of the table.” He said. The kids sat at the other end of the table with Lee at the head, Elodie and Eloho sat on his right, and Alena and Estelle sat on his left. Their seats were six spaces apart for a good amount of separation.</p><p> </p><p>“Why is there a kid’s end?” Cody asked. “Because they don’t know how to act.” Kyree said. “Neither do you, but we still let you in.” Jiwoo said back. “Man dang! you don’t have to do me like that.” He said, folding his arms and pouting. Cody noticed that when they spoke, Kyree also had an american accent, but it was different from Kercheks, and Jiwoo’s was korean.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Should I ask him about that? Nah, maybe he’ll explain it later.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Jiwoo giggled. “Got ‘em!” Lee shouted from the head of the table with his hands cupped around his mouth. “Don’t shout at the table.” Namseon said from the kitchen. “Sorry mam.” Lee said.</p><p> </p><p>The smell of food overtook the room as Charlie and Namseon passed everyone their plates. Cody didn’t recognize anything on his plate except for the rice, so he discreetly whispered to Seojun. “What is this?” He asked. Seojun was already digging into the noodles and held his finger up to tell him to give him a second to swallow. “Jjajangmyeon, Soy sauce crab, and Tteokbokki.” Seojun said. “Oh cool.” Cody said. “Try it, it’s good.” He said, eating another mouthful of noodles.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay.” Cody said. He went for the jjajangmyeon first since it stuck out to him the most. As soon as he had a bite he was surprised by the taste. It was bitter and salty, and had a kick to it, but it was really good. “Wow.” Cody said in astonishment. Seojun smiled. “It’s good isn’t it?” Seojun asked. Cody nodded. “Yeah it is, your mom’s a good cook.” Cody said. Seojun nodded in agreement and went back to his food.</p><p> </p><p>“So, how are you all liking Griffin Rock so far?” Charlie asked. “It’s wonderful! The nature is beautiful, the people are nice, and no one bothers us.” Namseon said. “It’s quieter than Atlanta, that’s for sure.” Kerchek said, feeding Kamina a mouthful of noodles. “You’re from Atlanta?” Graham asked. Kerchek nodded. “Yep, just me and Kamina.” He said. "Cool." Graham replied.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s kinda boring to me, there’s nothing to do here.” Kyree said. Jiwoo nodded in agreement. “That’s not true, there’s plenty of things to do here.” Dani said. “Like what?” Lee asked with a mouth full of food. “You could climb Mount Griffin, visit the library which is made entirely out of recycled materials. Go swimming in the ocean, go to the zoo, city hall, the shops, the lighthouse…” The kids looked excited now. Their eyes were filled with wonder. “Why didn’t we do any of this stuff earlier mam?” Alena asked accusingly. “Slow down guys. We’re still getting used to the island, we don’t want to rush into anything we’re unfamiliar with.” Namseon said. “We could show you guys around if you want, we know where to go so you’d be perfectly safe.” Graham suggested. “I think that’s a good idea. What do you think, Namseon?” Charlie asked.</p><p> </p><p>Shouts from the children rang around the table, they were pleading and begging to go places. Namseon was quickly swayed. “Alright, we’ll go at some point.” She said. “When is some point?” Alena asked. Namseon thought for a moment. “At least during this month.” She said. “Yay!” The triplets shouted. Charlie shook his head. “Kids. Always asking for something.” He said. “Tell me about it.” Namseon replied tiredly. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey Cody.” Kyree said, looking past Seojun. “Yeah?” Cody asked. Are you gonna eat your tteokbokki?” He asked. Cody gave him a look. “Yeah.” He said. “Damn.” Kyree grumbled. “Ky.” Namseon warned. “Sorry mam.” Kyree dragged. Cody made a point to eat all of his tteokbokki after he asked. Even after eating everything on his plate he was still hungry, and it seemed like everyone other than the Burns’ were as well.</p><p> </p><p>Cody went through three servings before he decided that he was done, everyone else sat there until they went through five, with the exception of Kerchek, Namseon, Seojun, and Vashti who went through eight instead.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun leaned back in his chair and Cody looked at him in awe. “How?” He asked. Seojun just shrugged. “It’s not so hard since I’m almost twice as big as you are.” He said quietly so that no one else would hear it. “Oh yeah.” Cody said. He had almost forgotten about that since he had never seen him like that. What made him smaller though?</p><p> </p><p>Everyone helped clean up after everyone was done eating. After a while Cody and Seojun went back upstairs. “Your family’s pretty entertaining.” Cody commented. Seojun chuckled. “Yeah, every other day is a shitshow. It’s always been like that.” He said. “My family is pretty messy too, there just aren’t quite as many of us.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “I could kinda tell. There’s some kind of trouble you guys are getting in almost every week.” He said. “You know about our missions here?” Cody asked. “I live here don’t I?” He said with a smirk. “Plus, whenever something happens the school doesn’t stop talking about it until the next big disaster.” He sighed with exasperation. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh yeah that’s true.” He paused. “Um. Has anyone talked about me, while I’ve been gone?” He asked. Seojun looked surprised that he asked that question and turned to him with squinted eyes. “Why do you wanna know that?” He asked. Cody bit his lip. “No reason, just curious.” He lied. Seojun raised his right eyebrow. “Uh huh…” He murmured. “Well yeah I guess. I haven’t heard anything negative though. It seems like everyone’s just worried.” He said. “Are you sure.” Cody asked. Seojun opened his room door and gave him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m sure.” He said. Cody smiled back hesitantly. Seojun sat on his bed and grabbed his notes. “Now, where were we the other night?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0034"><h2>34. Origins: Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts in italics</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You said that your dad said your mom could stay with his family.” Cody reminded him. “Oh, right.” Seojun replied. He turned the pages and looked over it. “Okay, so. My mam wasn’t sure about it. With how far apart their statuses were, she was worried about how other people would react. My father was unconcerned about it and just decided he’d fight them all off if he needed too, and from using her powers she could tell he was being genuine, so she decided to come along with him.” He explained. </p><p> </p><p>“What are your mom’s powers?” Cody asked. “My mom has the base Nyumal powers of strength and agility, she also can look into your eyes and tell if you’re lying, and has thermal vision.” Seojun said. Cody nodded. “What about your dad?” He asked. “Same base powers, he can also become invisible, and phase through anything made of naturally occurring material.” He replied. “Noble!” Cody said. “I wish I had super powers.” Seojun chuckled. “It’s okay I guess.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, my mam met my father’s family three days later. His parents were still on earth, but he had numerous cousins and a great grandmother there. She also found out that he had a son.” He said. Cody was surprised. “Your dad already had a kid?” He asked. Seojun nodded. “My father is nine years older than my mother, and had been in more relationships than she had. My oldest brother Koju was born when he was nineteen and was the son of a family friend, Kula, from the Emari clan. They stayed in the Comal lands with his family. Lucky for my mother, they were never together, they just had a kid.” He explained. </p><p> </p><p>Cody nodded. “Wait, what about Kerchek?” He asked. “I was about to explain that one too. Kerchek and I are also half brothers. His mom is a woman from earth who's a fourth human. Her name was Syrah I think, and she was from Atlanta. My dad was totally in love with her, and she got pregnant with my brother a year and a half after they met. My father was really excited, but a few months after she found out, they had a major fight and broke up. After that, she didn't let him see my brother at all. The only thing that Syrah told him about them is that she had a daughter. My dad was devastated because he wanted to be in Kerchek’s life, so he took a trip to South Korea where he met my mam.” He explained further.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, why’d she tell him that she had a daughter?” Cody asked. “My brother is transgender, so it was right at the time, just not now.” Seojun said. “Oh okay, that makes sense.” Cody replied. “Don’t worry, he said I could tell you. He doesn’t mind.” Seojun added. Cody nodded. “Oh okay, cool.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“So a few months later, I was born. I was born pretty early and was very weak as a baby, so my parents weren’t sure I was going to make it. Kula stayed with me every day and used her healing powers to help me, and Koju distracted my other siblings so my parents didn’t have to worry about them. It wasn’t enough though, so in the middle of the night when I was three weeks old I was on the verge of death and Kula told my parents that there was nothing that she could do.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“My mam was distraught and begged the ancestors to save me. My dad froze up while this was going on, but he still told my mother what he saw very clearly. After my mom had cried non stop for five minutes my eyes glowed a bright green which overtook my and my mother’s bodies. My father tried to jump in to rescue us, but he was blown back by the force of something powerful. After two minutes of this, everything calmed down and my mam collapsed with me in her arms. My father was terrified and ran over to us. It turns out that we were fine, just tired from the events of that moment.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody was shocked and confused. “How were you just fine all out of nowhere?” He asked. “I’m getting to that.” Seojun said.</p><p> </p><p>“Kula checked on me as soon as possible, and said I was like a completely different child. I was alert and my test results came back normal. My dad asked my mam what was going on and she knew this only meant one thing. I was part of the Min power line.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody’s eyes became as wide as hubcaps. “Wait seriously?” He asked loudly. “Shh!” Seojun said quickly. He looked around silently, listening to see if anyone was coming. “Yeah, I’m being serious.” He said. “That’s so cool! How did that happen?” Cody asked. “The past members of the power line choose who gets to be the next inheritor. I was chosen at the last minute.” He explained. “Wow, that’s amazing!” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “Though, my family wouldn’t know until I was two years old which power I had inherited, but even so my mother was terrified of what would happen next.” Seojun said. </p><p> </p><p>“Why?” Cody asked. “Current members of the power line are alerted when another is chosen. They see the process in their minds like a movie. Them knowing about this would mean that my grandfather would come after us, as he was the Lylu before my aunt.” He said. “Oh god.” Cody breathed. “My parents had no idea what else to do now, so they decided to go to the capital city of Kubo first before anyone could come to them.” Seojun said.</p><p> </p><p>“That must’ve been a tough decision for them.” Cody said. “It was. I don’t remember it, but the quadruplets do. They hated leaving Koju behind, he had become an older brother to them. They had to go anyway, and after one more day together, they left for the capital.” He closed the notebook and sighed loudly. “Okay, I’m tired of talking. I think that’s a good place to end it for now.” He said. “Aw man I wanted to hear more.” Cody said. Seojun smiled. “I’ll tell you more later, I promise.” He said. “Okay.” Cody said, still obviously disappointed.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun shook his head. “Let’s talk about something else instead. How have you been since you’ve been up Cody?” He asked. “What do you mean?” Cody asked. Seojun shrugged. “I just mean, how have you been doing since the accident?” He asked. Cody’s heart raced at the thought of it. The feeling of sinking, the piercing pain in his leg, the thought of dying. He stared out into space, letting it play out all over again. “Cody?” Seojun said with concern. </p><p> </p><p>Cody couldn’t get himself to calm down. He pressed his hand over his heart and gasped for air. “Cody?” Seojun said again. Cody continued to hyperventilate and managed to squeeze out the words. “I can’t breathe.” with panic. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh shit. What’s happening to me?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He quickly started to cry from the fear of not being able to control his body. He coughed trying even harder to breathe, but it just made things worse. He started to get dizzy and hung his head trying to get better circulation to it. His heart pounded in his chest with force that he had never felt before.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Am I dying? What’s going on?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He could barely think anything more than that from how panicked he was. Seojun came down from his bed and gently put his hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have asked that.” He said calmly. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What is he doing? I’m literally dying here!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“You’re okay, it’s just a panic attack. Nothing too dangerous.” He said calmly. “Calm down and breathe.” He said simply. Cody frowned. “The fuck?....I….can’t!” He struggled to say. “Don’t talk. Just breathe with me.” Seojun said simply. Cody didn’t understand at first until Seojun started to breathe slowly. “In through your nose and out through your mouth.” Seojun said. Cody nodded and tried his best to follow him. </p><p> </p><p>After about five minutes, Cody was calm enough to breathe on his own without needing Seojun to help. “Do you need anything?” Seojun asked. Cody nodded. “Water and a blanket please.” He said through shudders. Seojun nodded and walked down the hallway. He came back with two water bottles and a yellow blanket from the nearby closet. He put the blanket on his shoulder and passed him one of the water bottles, sitting the other one on his desk. He sat down on the bed across from Cody.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, are you okay?” He asked. “Yeah. Yeah I think so.” He said. Seojun paused and gave him a blank look. Cody snickered and shook his head. “Do you have the power to tell when people are lying too?” He asked. Seojun shook his head. “No. I can just tell. What’s going on?” He asked. Cody sniffled. “I haven’t been doing too good the past week I’ve been home. I’m not ready to talk about it, but I also really don’t wanna be alone.” He said. Seojun nodded. “Okay, I get it. Do you...want a hug?” He asked awkwardly. Cody started laughing almost immediately. “You- you’re so awkward!” He said. Seojun rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Really? Do you want the hug or not?” He asked with a small smile. Cody snorted. “Yeah.” He replied.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun slid off of the bed and wrapped his arms around Cody. Cody rested his head on his chest and let himself relax. Seojun’s embrace was warm and calming, and he could hear his steady heartbeat. Seojun leaned his chin on Cody’s head. "How'd you know to do all that?" Cody asked. "A few of my siblings have had panic attacks before. My mam taught us all how to do this in case she or Vashti wasn't around when it happened." He explained. "Oh, that makes sense." Cody said. “If you really don’t wanna be alone, I could ask if you could stay the night.” He said. Cody looked up at him. “Really? Thanks.” He said. Seojun’s cheeks turned just slightly red. “Yeah sure.” He replied.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun got up and walked downstairs, leaving Cody to sit awkwardly waiting for him to come back. After sitting on the floor for a while, holding the blanket close to his shoulders, he heard Seojun come back upstairs. “Your dad convinced my mam to let you stay!” He announced. Cody smiled. “Noble! Thanks Seojun.” He said. Seojun nodded. “Mm-hm. Your dad will be back in fifteen minutes to bring some clothes by for you.” He said. “Okay.” Cody said. “What time is it anyway?” He grabbed his phone from his pocket and looked at the clock. It was 10:33. “Oh, I guess we’ve been here for a while.” He said, turning bright red. “That’s fine though right?” Seojun asked. Cody nodded. “Yeah, it’s fine.”</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0035"><h2>35. Sleepover</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thoughts are in italics</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Charlie handed Cody an overnight bag in from the front seat of Chase’s bag. “Remember, you can call me at any time if you want to come home.” He said. Cody nodded. ‘Don’t worry about me dad, I’ll be fine.” Cody said. “If you say so Cody. I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll pick you up at 11:00.” Charlie said. “Okay, bye dad.” Cody said. “Bye Cody.” He replied as he started to drive away. Chase honked so that he wouldn’t blow his cover and Cody watched from the doorway as they drove through the woods.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, come on back inside Cody.” Namseon said, ushering him back inside. Cody hopped upstairs back to Seojun’s room. “Okay, I’m back.” He said. “Hey.” Seojun said, not looking away from the tv on the wall. Cody sat down on the bed beside him. “Hey Seojun?” He asked. “Hm?” Seojun hummed, turning his head towards Cody. “How do you guys make yourselves smaller?’ He asked. “Oh that? It’s pretty simple I guess.” He said. “How?” Cody asked. Seojun blew air through his lips in mild irritation, but explained it anyway. </p><p> </p><p>“We have these things called compression patches that we usually put on our backs or shoulders. They’re made of a plant that originates on earth called a Hymphon. They’re like small blue shrubs” He said. “We crush the leaves and stems of the plants and replant the roots and seeds. Then we strain the juice and mix it with gelatin to make it a paste. When it's concentrated like that, it takes about four plants to be able to cause a fully grown Nyumal to shrink. We put them in bags that stick to your body. They take three minutes to take effect and seven minutes to wear off. They also work up two twelve hours, but for safety reasons they should only be worn up to eight hours. You also aren’t supposed to put them on your chest because it can hurt you.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody remembered something. “Is that why you had that chest cramp when we went to the library?” He asked. Seojun frowned and cocked his head at him. “You remember that?” He asked. “Yeah, I was worried about you.” He said sheepishly. Seojun chuckled. “It was fine though. I had just woken it up late and stuck it in the wrong place.” He said. “Oh okay. That’s a relief.” He said.</p><p> </p><p> “So you’re wearing one now?” He asked. Seojun nodded. “Are you gonna take it off?” He asked. “Well, I got like three more hours on it, but yeah. It’s not always a good idea to sleep with them on.” He said. “So I get to see what you really look like?” Cody asked. “After I get in the shower, and if my mam doesn’t catch me.” He said. “Noble!” Cody said. Seojun rolled his eyes with a small smile. “So eager.” He said jokingly. Cody blushed. “Sorry..” He said sheepishly. “No, it’s fine.” Seojun replied. He passed him a bag of chips and they watched some loud cartoon on adult swim. “Are we even supposed to be on this?” Cody asked. “Nope.” Seojun replied with a cheeky smile. “Your mom’s gonna catch you.” Cody said. Seojun shrugged. “Eh.”</p><p> </p><p>Close to the middle of the night Seojun jumped into the shower and Cody changed into his sky blue matching pajamas and sat at the desk watching the tv. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I wonder what it’s like to be that tall. How come his mom is so cautious about everything? What happened after they headed to the capital?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun came back twenty minutes later, interrupting his thoughts. He tossed Cody a black sleeping bag. “Blap!” Cody yelped as he just barely stopped it from hitting in the face. “Oops, sorry.” Seojun said. Seojun walked through the doorway and closed it. He stood in front of him, waiting for him to say something. </p><p> </p><p>His hair was in twists, and he had on a different white tank top and grey sweatpants. He was very tall, just a few feet below the ceiling. His eyes glowed more brightly, his ears pointed up more, and he had a green marking like a band on his bicep. Otherwise, he didn’t look much different other than being a lot taller. </p><p> </p><p>“Wow.” Cody said in astonishment. Seojun avoided his eyes. “What do you think?’ He said shyly. “It’s cool. You still look like you to me.” Cody replied. Seojun smiled and plopped down across the bed on his back. “That’s good to hear. I expected a very different reaction.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“What, you don’t trust me?” Cody teased. Seojun snorted. “I do, I just have my doubts at times.” He said. “It is a little strange to me, since I’m used to you only being 6’5 but- wait, how tall are you anyway?” Cody asked. “10’3.” He said. “Noble!” He shook his head to get himself back on track. “But as I was saying, we’re friends. I’m not gonna judge you just because you’re different from me.” He said. Seojun ruffled his hair with a gentle smile. “Thanks.” He said. “Sure.” Cody replied while he fixed his hair. </p><p> </p><p>“I’ve had friends before, just not one as close as you.” Seojun said, looking into his eyes. Cody smiled. “Just me?” He asked. “Well I’m close to Frankie and Priscilla too, but it’s...different with you.” Seojun elaborated. “How?” Cody asked. “Well, you’re the only one I’ve told so far about being Arsinian, or stayed up late talking to in person.” He said. Cody nodded. “You’re the only one who knows I’m struggling at all.” He said. Seojun sighed. “You should tell someone about that though. It wouldn’t be good to let it continue and hurt you.” He said. “I know. I just need some time to get my thoughts together.” He said. “Okay.” Seojun replied.</p><p> </p><p>They laid on the bed quietly watching the TV. It was nice to just be around him, the silence between them didn’t feel awkward, just calm. They understood each other, mostly. Cody looked over at Seojun and felt butterflies in his stomach. He’d tell him at some point, for now he was fine just being there with him with no strain on their friendship. That could change if he said something, and he didn’t want that to happen.</p><p> </p><p>At 1:52 in the morning, Vashti came in to tell them to go to bed and Seojun turned the lights out. Cody climbed into the sleeping bag that was a little too big and Seojun turned over on his side in bed. “Goodnight Seojun.” Cody said. “Goodnight.” Seojun murmured tiredly.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun fell asleep almost immediately. Cody lay awake in his sleeping bag. He was so tired, but he was having trouble since he kept instinctively forcing himself to stay awake. He was frustrated by it.He turned over on his side and watched Seojun. He was relaxed and completely asleep. He remembered that he wasn’t alone and that he’d be fine. He followed Seojun’s breathing like he had earlier until he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0036"><h2>36. Early morning awkwardness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Suddenly Cody was slapped lightly in the face by something. "AH! What the-" As soon as he started talking he heard a gurgling sound. Liquid dropped on his forehead. He wrenched his eyes shut and immediately wiped it off. “Ugh!” He opened his eyes and in the little bit of light that came through the window, was met with a little smiling face. “Um?” He murmured. Kamina giggled and patted his face. Cody frowned and sat up, gently sitting her down on his lap. “How’d you get in here buddy?” He asked her. She sucked her thumb and stared at him. “What? You don’t wanna say anything?” He joked.</p><p> </p><p>He reached up and shook Seojun by his shoulder. “Hey Seojun, wake up.” He said. Seojun groaned and covered his ears, turning over on his stomach. “Really?” Cody said. He jumped up a little and lightly smacked him on the back. “Come on, wake up already.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun slowly turned over and faced him. His eyes were wide open and bright red from tiredness. Being sleepy made his voice deeper and more raspy. “It’s four in the morning.” He groaned. “Did you have a nightmare or something?” He asked. “No, your niece got in here somehow.” He said, holding her up. Seojun sighed. “Oh, Kamina? Yeah she does that all the time. She has this ability to be able to squeeze into small places. Gets us in a lotta trouble.” He explained. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, well what do we do now?” He asked. “I’ll just bring her back to Kerchek’s room. Half the time she just escaped while he was sleeping.” He said. “Oh okay. Can I come with you?” Cody asked. “I’m not going far.” Seojun said. “Yeah, but now I wanna walk around and get some snacks from the kitchen.” Cody explained. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun sighed deeply. “Fine. Give me the kid.” He said. Cody handed him Kamina and he sat up in his bed. Kamina immediately reached for his twists as soon as she was in his arms. “No Mi-Mi. I’d like to keep my hair please.” He said, forcing her hand open. Kamina pouted and reached for him again, but he pulled his head away before she could. </p><p> </p><p>Cody giggled at them and propped himself up on the desk. “Come on, lead the way. We’re still taking her back right?” He said. “Yep.” Seojun mumbled. He stood up with Kamina on his hip and started walking to the door. Cody almost jumped out of his skin because he forgot he was almost twice his size. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I really hope he didn’t notice.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Seojun chuckled from the doorway and Cody knew that he had definitely noticed. Cody hopped after Seojun and Kamina to the first floor. He leaned on the wall downstairs and sat down. “Geez!” He wheezed. Seojun was about to knock on Kerchek’s door, but he saw that it was already open.</p><p> </p><p>“He’s not there. We’ll just have to stay with her until he comes back.” He said. Cody nodded, but something caught his attention. Down the hallway he heard someone talking, it sounded familiar. “Or we could drop her off with whoever’s awake over there.” Cody suggested. Seojun squinted and looked at him for a second. “That depends on who it is. I’m not leaving her with Kyree.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“Okay.” Cody said, sliding back up the wall. Seojun choked back a laugh loud enough for Cody to hear. “What?” Cody asked. “You looked like a worm when you did that.” He said, stifling a laugh. Cody rolled his eyes. “Ugh I really need this cast off.” He said. “So you can wear more than one shoe?” He joked. Cody laughed. “Wow! Shots fired!” He said, faking offense. “Pew pew!” Seojun said quietly. Kamina looked totally confused, looking at them with wide eyes. “Come on, let’s go dump you on somebody else.” Seojun said and started walking off again. Cody followed close behind him, holding onto the wall this time.</p><p> </p><p>Whoever was over there was still talking. “....You wouldn’t believe it!” Someone said. He heard someone huff after that. “Sounds like a good story.” He said. Seojun walked around the corner and froze. “What?” Cody whispered. As soon as he saw them talking, he knew that something was definitely not right. It was dark, but he could just make out the two figures. </p><p> </p><p>Kerchek and Graham were standing in front of the open back door. Graham’s hair was messy and his glasses were crooked. Kerchek was in his normal form, still just a little bit shorter than Seojun. “So next time?” Graham asked. “There won’t be a next time.” Kerchek said. Graham laughed. “You always say that.” He said. Kerchek sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do.” He replied. “I’m surprised you called me first, you’re usually so shy.” He said. Kerchek wrinkled his nose and looked away from him. “Am not-” </p><p> </p><p>As soon as the words left his mouth, he met eyes with Cody and Seojun. His eyes went wide with panic. “Are too!” Graham said, not noticing that anyone else was there. “Graham.” Kerchek whispered, trying to get his attention. “And I thought I was awkward, you can barely even speak to me.” Graham laughed. “Graham.” Kerchek said more loudly. Of course, Graham still wasn’t paying attention. He was busy rambling now. “Much less look at me when-” </p><p> </p><p>“Graham!” </p><p> </p><p>Kerchek forcefully turned him around so he’d stop talking, and as soon as he did his eyes opened as wide as they could go. “Oh Fuuuuck.” He said. Kerchek leaned down so he could see his face and gave him a death stare. “Don’t cuss in front of my kid.” He said. “Oops sorry, I forgot.” He said.</p><p> </p><p>All four of them stood in front of each other in an awkward silence, no one knew what to say.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun cleared his throat and gave them a blank look. “So, y’all were having a sleepover too?” He said dryly. “Yeah….something like that.” Graham replied awkwardly. Seojun stiffly walked over to Kerchek and handed Kamina to him. “Here you go. She got into my room earlier.” He said. “Thanks.” Kerchek said. Kamina immediately latched onto one of his locs. “Mina.” Kerchek mumurred. </p><p> </p><p>“Uh, see you at home Cody?” Graham said awkwardly. Cody nodded without saying anything. Seojun turned around and walked to the kitchen. Cody stood there for a moment, and Kerchek shooed him away.</p><p> </p><p>Cody and Seojun silently grabbed their snacks and headed back upstairs. They settled back into Seojun’s room and just stared off into space for a moment. “Well. That was….something.” Cody said, somehow even hearing the cringe in his voice. “Did you know they even knew each other?” Seojun asked. “Not until yesterday.” Cody said. Seojun chuckled and facepalmed. “Geez!” He said. “I know. I didn’t expect that at all.” Cody added. “Yeah, what just happened?” He said. </p><p> </p><p>Cody shrugged. “Do you think they’re-” Seojun quickly cut him off. “Nope! Nonononono! I don’t even wanna think about it!” Seojun said. Cody laughed. “It’s not that bad. It’s not like we saw anything.” He said. “I still do not want to think about it. Please, let me rest Cody!” He begged, covering his head with his blanket. “Okay fine.” Cody said. He waited until Seojun uncovered his head. “You think they-” “No!” Seojun said. Cody just laughed harder and started eating his chips. “This is so easy, I’m going to use this against you so much” Cody said with a shit eating grin. “Foul.” Seojun said, muffled by the blanket. "You know it!” Cody teased.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I guess they have similar tastes. 😂</p><p>ISTG! This might be the best drawing I've ever done. It actually kind of fits how I imagine him. </p><p>https://twitter.com/Kurpluckle/status/1393453917384609794?s=19</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0037"><h2>37. A few messy hours</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>When texting.</p><p>_Frankie<br/>(Cody</p><p>Underlining + Italics means Aresage is being spoken.</p><p>Thoughts in italics.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cody woke up to the sun burning his eyes. He turned and shielded his face. “Hmm.” He murmured tiredly. He had gotten more sleep than he had in the past week, but he had still woken up during the night. He turned over to see if Seojun was awake. He wasn’t, he was dead asleep and snoring loudly. Cody covered his ears and giggled almost silently. He got up and quickly went to use the bathroom. He got in and out quickly so that he wouldn’t wake Seojun up and looked at the time on his phone. It was 7:23 in the morning. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ugh! Thank god it’s not 6 for once!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He’d almost forgotten what it was like to sleep past six in the morning. He flopped down on the sleeping bag on his back and looked through his phone. There was nothing new except for some YouTube alerts.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Boring</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He decided that he’d just scroll through twitter until Seojun woke up, when Frankie texted him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>_So how was the Min’s place?</p><p> </p><p>He rolled his eyes. Right on time.</p><p> </p><p>(It was good at first, they’re cool, but then I had a panic attack, stayed the night, and found my brother and one of his brothers at the back door at 4 in the morning.</p><p> </p><p>_ ….</p><p>_Okay, Imma need you to elaborate. </p><p>_Why’d you have a panic attack? Are you okay?</p><p> </p><p>(Yeah, I’m fine now. Seojun had just asked how I’d been doing since the accident, and let’s just say it hasn’t been too good.</p><p> </p><p>_Oh I’m sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?</p><p> </p><p>(I didn’t wanna think about it.</p><p> </p><p>_What happened?</p><p> </p><p>(He helped me calm down during it and was really concerned. It ended up being fine. I stayed over since I didn’t want to be alone.</p><p> </p><p>_I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.</p><p> </p><p>(That’s not your fault. I hadn’t told anyone this was going on.</p><p> </p><p>_Why not? That’s pretty serious Cody.</p><p> </p><p>(I didn’t want anyone to worry about me. I’d already almost died and put a lot of stress on everybody, telling you about this would just add to it. </p><p> </p><p>_No it won’t. We care about you, and we want to help you. The accident that night wasn’t your fault and neither is what you’re going through now. You just need to be able to process it.</p><p> </p><p>(Thanks. I guess I needed to hear that.</p><p> </p><p>_Of course. You’re my friend and I’ll always be there for you if you need me. </p><p> </p><p>(Thanks. Wanna hang out after I get home. Maybe help me tell my dad about this?</p><p> </p><p>_Sure.</p><p> </p><p>(Thanks. See you then Frankie.</p><p> </p><p>_Bye.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Cody set his phone down and sighed. When he did, he felt tears run down his face. He hadn’t even realized he had been crying while they were talking. He sniffed and wiped his face with the back of his hand. He felt a little bit better now that he’d told her. It was a good feeling being reminded that he had support from his best friend. How’d he ever think she would be upset?</p><p> </p><p>“Morning.” Seojun murmured groggily.</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned towards him. He was laying with his head on his right arm and his left arm hanging off of the bed. His eyes looked closed, but they must’ve been a little bit open if he could see him. “Hey.” Cody said. He caught a glimpse of the time on his phone and jumped. “Wait, it’s 8:03 right now. You’re gonna be late for school!” He said. Seojun grumbled. “Mam said I could stay until you left.” He replied. “Oh okay.” Cody said, feeling relieved. “You okay?” He asked. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Cody replied. “You woke up during the night?” He asked. “Only three times, an all time low for this week.” He said. Seojun nodded. “Okay.”</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned back to his phone and could see Seojun in the corner of his eye. He was rubbing his left eye with the right one open and suddenly froze. “Your hair?” He said. “Huh? What about my hair?” Cody asked. Seojun’s eyes were wide open, he looked shocked. “That’s definitely not natural.” He said. “What, what is it?” Cody asked. “Just turn on your front camera.” Seojun said.</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned on his camera and was immediately reminded of another strange thing he had forgotten about this week. Overnight his hair had grown down to his back and was a complete mess since it hadn’t been tied up. “Oh shit.” He said. “So what now?” Seojun asked. “I don’t know, I can’t go home like this. My dad will get suspicious!” Cody said. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun raised his left eyebrow at him. “I thought you were gonna tell your dad what’s going on.” He said. “Yeah, about the nightmares and stuff. This is totally different!” Cody insisted. Seojun sighed deeply. “Okay.” He said. “Can you help me with this. The last time I cut it, it was a mess.” Cody asked. “Yeah sure.” Seojun replied. “I’ll just see if I can get the shears from Vitanya.” He slowly got up and trudged out of the room. Cody grabbed at the ends of his hair and sat for a moment, then he used Seojun’s bed to get up and hop to the bathroom.</p><p> </p><p>He turned the lights on and looked in the mirror. He brushed his hair back out of his face and parted it in the middle. It looked normal on him, but it definitely wasn’t. He wasn’t completely sure what was happening, but he had a hunch.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Is this because of that rock? I should really ask Doc Greene how those tests are going.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Hey I’m back, and I got the shears.” Seojun said. He peeked his head into the bathroom and held up the shears. “Thanks.” Cody said. Seojun nodded and walked up behind him. It was a little strange since Seojun was so huge compared to him. He was like a giant shadow hanging over him. He used hair tied to put it into four ponytails and parted it. Cody stood and waited for him to cut it. “Do you do this often too?” Cody asked. “No, just when I trim my hair on wash days.” He said as he cut the first one and tossed it into the trash. “Okay cool.” Cody said.</p><p> </p><p>It turned out pretty even after he finished it, and was just above his shoulders. He didn’t even bother with the bangs though. “What do you think?” Seojun asked. “It looks nice. Thanks.” He said. “Sure.” Seojun replied, spinning the shears on his finger. Suddenly he got a look of excitement on his face. “Wait, what if we dyed it?” He asked. “Only if you dye yours too.” Cody said. Seojun sucked his teeth with a smirk. “Fine.” He said. “Vidalia’s got a bunch of hair dye stored up. I’ll go get some from her! I’ll be right back.” He ran out into the hallway and Cody messed around with his hair while he waited.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Why are we doing this? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>His dad was definitely gonna kill him when he came to pick him up, but at least it would be fun. He shook his head and smiled at the thought.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun came running back in with the bleach, hair dye, and developer. “Okay, pick something.” Seojun said. Cody picked a bright red and Seojun picked a lime green. “You and green.” Cody said jokingly. Seojun chuckled and started mixing his bleach. “It’s a nice color.” He said. “True, it does look good on you.” Cody said. Seojun looked at him through the corner of his eyes with a shy smile. He snickered, shook his head and turned back to what he was doing. Cody squinted at him, returning his smile. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Cody asked. “Nothin’.” Seojun replied, smiling harder. Cody rolled his eyes at him and put gloves on. “Don’t forget yours.” He said. “Yeah yeah, I’m getting to it.” Seojun said raspily.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun bleached random streaks in his hair around his head. “I’m gonna be so pissed if this fucks up my curl pattern.” He murmured. Cody snickered. “Hopefully it doesn’t.” He replied. Cody bleached his bangs and put one streak on each side of his head, leaving space blonde between the streaks and his bangs. They put tinfoil on their hair and sat around for twenty minutes waiting for it to work.</p><p> </p><p>“Woah! It looks so weird!” Cody said as he pulled off the foil. Seojun shook his head around as soon as he got the foil off. “Yeah kinda. I didn’t think you could get any blonder.” He said. Cody lightly punched him in the ribs. “Shut up!” He laughed. Seojun shielded himself and laughed with him.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun washed the bleach out in the shower and Cody washed his hair out in the sink. “It looks kinda funny.” Cody said, wrinkling his nose at the dye. Seojun shrugged his shoulders. “Looks fine to me.” He said nonchalantly. </p><p> </p><p>After that, they put plastic bags on their heads and sat in Seojun’s room. “On the bright side, if your hair turns out bad, you can just cut it off and it’ll be back to normal the next day.” Seojun pointed out. Cody thought for a moment. “Yeah, I guess so.” He said. “What’ll you do if yours turns out shitty?” He asked. Seojun shrugged. “I dunno. Hope the school lets me wear a durag to school until I can dye it again.” He said. Cody chuckled. “Sounds like a good idea.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>After forty minutes they were back in front of the bathroom mirror again. “You go first bondie.” Seojun said. “Nah, let’s rock, paper, scissors on it. Loser goes first.” Cody said. Seojun sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine, best outta five.” He said. “Damn! You know how to play?” Cody asked. “Yeah, Kyree and Jiwoo solve everything with this.” He said. “Oh, that kinda makes sense.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “Only because they’re childish.” He said. Cody choked back a laugh. “That’s mean!” He exclaimed, trying not to laugh. Seojun shrugged. “Not really, it’s true.” He said. Cody shook his head. “You know what, I’ll let you have that one.” He said. Seojun smiled. “So are we playing the game or not?”</p><p> </p><p>After tying six times, Cody lost nine to eight. “Damn it!” Cody shouted. Seojun pumped his fist into the air. “Come on, take it off!” He said. “Okay fine.” Cody said, slightly bitter over his loss. Seojun leaned down in anticipation as Cody untied the bag. As soon as he looked into the mirror, a silence fell over them.</p><p> </p><p>“IT’S PINK?” Cody shrieked.</p><p> </p><p>Instead of red, his hair was a shiny bright pink color. Seojun burst out laughing and collapsed on the floor. <span class="u"><em>“Aya! Tikeno shi yuka!”</em></span> (Oh my god! This is priceless!) He shouted. “You still haven’t done yours yet though.” Cody pointed out. Seojun froze. “Oh.” He said. “Yeah. Come on already.” Cody urged him. Seojun used the sink to get up. He sighed and whispered his prayers while Cody watched anxiously.</p><p> </p><p>It was a little darker than it was supposed to be, but it had turned out almost perfect. Cody pouted. “This is so unfair.” He murmured. Seojun smirked. “Hey, at least pink is still a shade of red.” He said. “It’s still not what I wanted.” Cody said as he started to wash out the dye. Seojun shrugged. “Well you could always just…” He grabbed the shears off the counter. “Nope, I can’t go home bald.” Cody replied. “Then you’re stuck with the pink.” He said. “At least it’s cute I guess.” Cody muttered. “Yeah.” Seojun agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Cody blow dried his hair first since he had finished washing it out before Seojun. “It actually looks better dry.” He said. Seojun nodded. Seojun put a diffuser on the end when he dried it so that his curls wouldn’t be frizzy. “Yours looks cool.” Cody said. “Thanks.” Seojun replied.</p><p> </p><p>Seojun put his hair in small braids in square parts all over his head. “What should I put mine in?” Cody asked. “I could put it in dutch braids.” Seojun said. “You sure?” He asked. “Yeah.” He replied. “Okay, go for it.” Cody said enthusiastically.</p><p> </p><p>Cody turned in the mirror with a grin on his face. He had left the bangs out and the two braids had pink swirls through them. “Wow! Is there anything you can’t do Seojun?” He asked. “Communicate properly.” He said dryly. “And watch dramas without cringing five minutes in.” Cody laughed. “Well that’s not so bad.” He said. Seojun paused. “That depends.” He replied. Cody cocked his head at him. “Depends on what?” He asked. Seojun shrugged. “I dunno, it just does.” He said. “Mmm. Okay.” Cody replied hesitantly. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh wait, hold on.” Seojun said. He grabbed his phone off of his nightstand. “We should take a picture.” He said. Cody blushed a little bit. “Oh okay, sure.” He said. Seojun turned the camera on and leaned down, holding Cody closer to him by his shoulder and held his phone above them. Cody smiled and made a peace sign with his right hand. Seojun did a half smile and took the picture. </p><p> </p><p>“Nice.” Seojun said simply. “Let me see!” Cody said. Seojun passed him the phone. Cody smiled. “Yeah, it is nice.” He said softly. “I’ll send you it later.” Seojun said. “Okay.” Cody replied.</p><p> </p><p> He looked at his phone for the time. “It’s 10:01. What should we do now?” He asked. Seojun shrugged. “I dunno, you decide.” He said. “Okay.” He thought for a moment. “Almost everybody’s gone for work and stuff right? The TV downstairs and the kitchen should be free.” He said. Seojun smiled. “Did you only stay here to eat all our snacks?” He joked slyly. Cody made a face at him. “And what if I did?” He asked. “Easy. I’ll get Kamina to get you.” He said. “Kamina? She’s a baby! What can she do?” He laughed. “Babies are ruthless.” Seojun said, walking down the stairs. “That doesn’t answer my question!” Cody yelled after him. Seojun just kept walking away. Cody sighed and grabbed his crutches. “Wait for me!” He called out to him.</p><p> </p><p>They ended up watching The Amazing World of Gumball and eating cheerios. “I have no idea what’s going on, but I like it.” Seojun commented. “That’s just how this show is.” Cody replied. Seojun giggled at a scene and his dimples showed in his smile. Cody couldn’t help but smile at him. </p><p> </p><p>“Thanks again for letting me stay over.” He said. “Sure no problem.” He said. “Are you sure? I’m sure you weren’t expecting me to end up having a panic attack on your bedroom floor.” He said sheepishly. Seojun gave him a soft look. “It’s fine. You’re my friend. It’d be pretty shitty of me to not help you out.” He said. “You mean that?” Cody asked. “Cody, I literally resuscitated you like two weeks ago. I have no problem with you being around. Don’t worry about it.” He said, slightly more forcefully. That gave Cody chills down his spine and he needed to take a moment to recover.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>This stupid crush is gonna kill me!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, okay, I’ll stop worrying about it!” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “Good.” He muttered. “You are so mean.” Cody joked, folding his arms over his chest and turning his head away. Seojun rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure.” He said with a small smile. Cody giggled at him and shook his head.</p><p> </p><p>A little while later, the doorbell rang. It was 11:13. “Oh, I guess my dad’s here now.” Cody said solemnly. “I’ll be right back.” Seojun said. He ran upstairs to put a compression patch on. The doorbell rang again. “Geez, I’m coming.” He muttered as he hopped to the door. He opened all five locks on it and opened it. “Hey-” Instead of his dad, it was Kade who looked very confused. “Um. What is going on here?” He asked, pointing at his hair. “Oh this? I dyed it this morning.” He said. </p><p> </p><p>“Okay then. Where’s Mrs. Min?” He asked, stepping inside just passed the doorway. “She’s at work.” Seojun said, coming back down the stairs. He passed Cody his clothes. “Thanks, I forgot about those.” Cody said. Kade looked between the two of them with confusion. </p><p> </p><p>“You too?” Kade asked. “Huh?” Seojun said. “He’s talking about your hair.” Cody told him. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about it.” He said. Kade shook his head and sighed in exasperation. “You kids. Come on Cody, say goodbye to your buddy here. We’re going home.” Kade said. “Okay.” Cody said. He hopped over to Seojun on his crutches and gave him a hug. “See you later!” Seojun looked surprised at first, but he did hug him back. “See ya.” He said. Kade briefly gave them a funny look. Cody decided it was just Kade being Kade.</p><p> </p><p>Kade shut the door behind them and started walking to Heatwave, carrying Cody’s bag for him. “Did you have a good time?” Kade asked. “Yeah, it was fun.” Cody said with a smile. “Good.” Kade replied simply. </p><p> </p><p>Thinking about that night made Cody remember what had happened with Graham and Kerchek early that morning. He decided not to tell him about that. If they were sneaking around like that, they probably didn’t want anyone to know.</p><p> </p><p>Cody sat in the passenger seat and they drove off soon after. “What made you wanna stay last minute like that Cody?” Heatwave asked. “Uh, I just didn’t wanna leave yet.” He lied. He wasn’t quite ready to talk about yet. He saw Kade giving him the side eye, but ignored it. “Hey, why didn’t dad come to get me?” He asked. “Don was speeding again, so him and Chase had to go take care of that.” Kade said. Cody groaned. “It’s always Don! How does he still have a license?” Cody asked. “Honestly I have no idea.” Kade said. “Probably Barney’s fault.” Cody added.</p><p> </p><p>As he said that, he got a notification on his phone. When he turned it on, it was a text from Seojun, sending him the picture they had taken. Cody smiled brightly and downloaded it immediately. </p><p> </p><p>Seojun laid on his back in his room. He couldn’t stop looking at the picture. It was adorable. That little smile of Cody’s always lit up his day. He sighed and shook his head. Hopefully he was feeling better now. He’d tell him at some point that he liked him, but now was not the time. Cody had other things to worry about.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Finally, the first chapter that has 3,000 words! 🎉</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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